Till Death Do Us Part
by ClemKnows
Summary: Ever since the boat rescue, Clem and Louis have become closer than ever. Louis has grown to love her and AJ more than life itself. He is willing to do anything to keep them safe. Clementine will soon find out how devoted he is and she feels in debt to his loyalty. I started writig this before Ep. 4 was released
1. We Won’t Leave You

THUMP THUMP

Clementine affectionately listens to Louis' heartbeat as she lay beside him with her ear pressed against his chest.

Clem loves when he's this relaxed. It calms her, she is able to sleep comfortably with the steady beat of his heart.

Louis has his arm wrapped around Clementine's right side with his hand gently laying on her hip.

They must have been laying for hours, but they loved every minute they get to hold each other.

Clem has her right arm laying from his torso to his midchest. The heat coming off of his body always gives her butterflies.

She then notices that his heartbeat rose, and she could hear raspy quick breaths pumping out of his chest. She lifts her head looking at him. He has tears flowing down the side of his face. Staring at the ceiling, he is letting out quite whimpers, obviously trying to keep himself from waking his partner.

"Louis?" Clem hoping her voice would make him give an answer. He doesn't break eye contact with the ceiling, trying his best to control his emotions, but they overpower him.

"L-Louis, what's wrong?" her heart starts to break at the sight of his distress. She knows that he was battling the emotions to look strong for her, she just wants to ease his pain.

Louis looks down to her face. He stares into her eyes, his lips quiver and the tears flow like a waterfall. He sniffs trying to clear his sinuses, but to no advail.

His broken eyes pull a million red flags in her head. She sits up and pulls his upper body onto her lap. She lifts his torso and holds him as tight as she can.

"J-Just tell me what I can do Lou. You know I hate to see you like this." He buries his face into her breast soaking her shirt with his tears.

Clementine has never seen him like this before. This is beyond his normal nightmares that he gets from the incident with Dorian, but she has never seen him so broken.

Clem tilts her head onto his. She kisses his forehead "I'm right here. I'm right here."

She hears a faint murmur from her breast "I can't lose her. I can't lose him. Take me instead. Please."

She takes a gamble that he's talking about her and AJ. Her heart sinks into depths she didn't know exist. Tears start to form and blur her vision.

She tries to speak but the tightness of her throat blocks her words.

"Please, please don't take them from me." Louis continues his sob into her shirt.

She is able to pull herself together to form words. "We're not going to leave you Lou." She sits paralyzed, not knowing what to do to soothe the pain.

"They're all I have left...Please...Please." The faint remark made her cheeks turn bright red. She never knew he felt like this.

His restless body starts to give, his tears dry, and he falls back to his dreams, in the arms of his partner. Exhaustion causes his body to fall limp. She stares into his face with a look of concern, but she gives a smile, knowing he is at peace.

She lays her back against the wall. She feels his heartbeat return to its normal routine. Her eyes feel like iron shutters and she closes them.

She thinks to herself We won't leave you.


	2. He’s Something Else

Clementine awakes and finds herself covered with Louis' overcoat.

The rays of sunlight found its way through the torn oddly shaped curtains draped over the broken window.

Across the room to her left lays her boy who was sound asleep with half of the dark shaded blanket covering his 6 year old body. She found that he had a puddle of drool accumulating on the right side of his face.

Louis was already gone she thought to herself _What a gentleman... sacrificed his sacred overcoat to warm me._ She let a sighing smile break through her lips.

AJ's faint snoring turned violent and he coughed as if something got stuck in his throat. She was concerned but found that he didn't wake so she believed he was fine. His mouth was slightly open and she could see his crooked left lateral incisor slightly overlap his front tooth. She loved his imperfections.

The rays of sunlight hit all of his body but his face. Clem could hear her heartbeat due to the silence in the room. She thought about how much she loved her little boy.

_He must've come back from patrolling late last night_ she thought to herself. She slowly moved her uncoordinated joints and turned her feet to the floor. She has always had problems with her joints when she wakes up. If she laid or sat for an extended amount of time, she found it hard for her joints to work properly. She bent her knees a couple of times while sitting on the edge of the bed. Her knees felt like sandpaper rubbing together.

The sun shimmered off of her light copper skin. Her golden hazel eyes looked like two individual stars. Her curly dark brown hair relaxed itself and moved freely. She had a couple of rouge bangs fall over the front of her face.

She stood her ground and walked over the the left side of the bunk bed. On its frame dangled her signature baseball cap. The D barley holding onto its fabric.

She placed her prized companion on top of her silky hair and adjusted it to fit comfortably atop her head. When she was satisfied she drew her attention back to her boy and tiptoed in his direction. She slowly lowered her hips onto his bed. His body didn't alert him of her presence and kept him asleep.

She ran her hands through his growing afro. _I really need to trim your hair kiddo _she thought to herself. His hair wasn't the softest in the world but it felt unique to her and she loved it for that reason.

To her right she heard the door start to creek open. Louis was moving as quiet as he could to not wake them. She saw that he had a bowl in his left hand and he was hugging onto two other bowls in his right arm.

He was so focused on his task that he didn't notice Clementine watching his every movement. He struggled to get the door open with his one hand (that was barley free). He gently pushed the door with his left shoulder which caused him to hit his right shoulder onto the door frame. Some of the contents in the bowl overflowed it's container and spilled on his arm and shirt. He let out an angry and purtubed huff and puff. He cursed under his breath "Clumsy as always you fucking idiot."

His eyes where still fixated on the door as he turned his body towards it. He placed his left foot on the side of the old wooden door and pushed it shut. Satisfied that the door didn't make to loud a sound when it shut he turned to be caught by surprize with Clementine who was giving an evil smile in his direction.

He set his eyes on her. She did the same. "I brought you guys some breakfast." He showed the bowls of rabbit stew. "Trust me, I know it looks bad. But Omar made it so it should be fine."

She smiled at his remark "Thanks Lou." He exchanged a smile back and bowed to her "Anything for my beloved Queen and her Prince."

She carefully rose off of AJ's bed and walked over to Louis who had a bowl pointed at her direction. The rays of sun hit his face which highlighted the freckles on his lower face. She took the bowl from his outstretched arms and sat on their bed across from the sleeping boy.

She played with the food and examined its contents. "Please tell me Omar didn't put cooked carrots in my stew." She lifted her face meeting his for a response. His face squinted trying to remember what Omar said was in the stew. After a solid minute he decided he'd never get that part of his memory back "I have no idea." His face still in its squinted position.

She gave a defeated nod and hoped for the best. She cautiously dipped her spoon into the stew and fought out a spoonful of food. She could see the steam coming off of the spoon and she blew on it. She took a bite and was surprized that it tasted different than it regularly did. She looked back at Louis who found entertainment with her put herself through the mental torture "This tastes different." He quickly responded "Omar said he tried a new recipe and put his secret ingredient in it." He ended his sentence with a toothy smile which Clementine adored.

Louis began to eat his food to only be stopped "Looky at what I have here." He pulls out a piece of Omar's hair which fell into his stew. "Looks like I have found our chef's secret ingredient." Stew shoots out of Clem's nose as she laughs. Her pants get covered with the liquid that came out of her nose. Louis loses control and bursts into laughter. She wipes the stew from her nose and wipes it off of her pants. Her face reddened from embarrassment "Don't laugh at me." He gives her a teasing smile.

She continues to clean herself up and Louis notices that AJ was still sound asleep. "That kid is one heavy sleeper." His voice astonished. She looked at the young boy and smiled "Yeah... he's been like this ever since he started doing his 'patrols'." She scanned her clothing and found satisfaction. Louis had his eyes on her face but he found himself looking at her hips and then her butt. He quickly became disgusted with himself and cursed himself under his breath. He repositioned his eyes back to her face.

She wiped her pants one final time and walked back to Louis with a cheeky expression on her face. They both continued their meals and after a short minute Louis made conversation.

"It's good to see you like this. Laughing, smiling, comfortable." His heart was warm seeing her like this but his heart quickly became cold. He moved his eyes to the floor. He debated on telling her what was wrong with him last night. The details of the dream propped into his head and he became fearful. "I'm sorry for making you worry last night... It was just a bad dream." His voice was defeated and low. She senses the guilt with his slumped over posture. "I didn't want to wake you." He made a quick glance at her golden eyes. "I wasn't asleep in the first place." She laid her head on his shoulder. "Where you watching me sleep?" He couldn't help himself to put her in an awkward situation. Her eyes moved all around the room "Uh... no why would you think that?" Her shaky voice tried to sound stern and bold. He squints his eyes "What a weirdo." He gives a loving smile to her redden face. She playfully hits his arm and he gives a fake wince of pain.

The room became dim as a large cloud advanced over the sun and blocked its rays. The objects in the room seem to glob together and turn to a darker shade from their orginal. The wind coming into the room from the broken window chilled from its normal temperature.

The room fell silent for a couple of minutes, her head still on his shoulder. "You and AJ died in it." She lifted her face and saw him with his mouth slightly open staring at AJ. She didn't know what to say or do. She decided to lay her head back on his shoulder "It's just a dream Lou." It was almost a whisper. "I keep having it. Over and over. It's been haughting me for the past couple of days." The room is still when his voice ends. "I walk out of the admin building and you two are on the ground... stab wounds on your backs... both of your bodies... motionless... lifeless..."

A tear drop comes down his cheek. She wipes it off his freckled brown skin. "Hey." Her voice was soft and soothing and it moved with the flow of the wind. She continued "Don't get upset." He hasn't taken his eyes away from AJ. His voice becomes a menacing whisper to himself "I won't let it happen... I can't." She pulled his face to meet hers "Everything will be fine... We've been through worse than to let a little dream scare us." Her eyes were as enchanting as always, Lou's heartbeat quickened when he met them.

The cloud surpasses the position of the sun and allows the warmth of its rays return to the earth. The room becomes more colorful and its features become more distinct.

She grabbed his hands "You know I love you right?" Her forehead wrinkled at the question. He looks down at her hands, examining her body, and meets her eyes again. He observes her curly brown hair. He lets out a sigh and meets her lips with his. She is stunned at his gesture. She's always been the one to initiate intimacy. Her eyes close as their lips meet. After a couple of seconds he gently pulls away and he whispers "I know you do." He got up, gave her a kiss on the head. He directed his attention to the sleeping youth. He moved to AJ's bed and kneeled by his side.

Clem loved seeing the father mentality he showed to AJ. She always get a weird feeling in her chest when she witnesses him watching over her little boy as if he where his own. He whispered something into AJ's ear but Clementine couldn't make out what he said. He gave AJ a kiss on the forehead, he turned to Clem.

She noticed his face looked tired, stress had started to take its toll on his physical body. He gave a smile but on the inside he was hurting "I'll see you in a little bit." He downcasted His face to the wooden panels of floor which directed him to the door. When he exited Clem sat in her bed staring at the door he just left through. Clementine grows perturbed and worried, it was as if something that had been sleeping in Louis woke up last night.

She redirected her attention to the boy still sound asleep oblivious to the worlds problems. The scene of Louis kissing AJ on the forehead played in her head on repeat. She gave a faint smirk and let a gust of air out of her mouth. She thought to herself **_He's something else._**


	3. Scars From The Past

Clem strapped on her boots and put her jacket on. _Hopefully Vi will talk to me now_. The thought made her depressed.

It has been a little over a month since she got her friends back from Lilly and the Delta. Vi and Minnie rekindled their relationship and they both shared extreme hatred for Clementine.

Clem took a glance back at AJ's peaceful body one final time before she leaves. Under her breathe she whispers "Sweet dreams goofball." She turns her body to the old wooden door and turned the knob. She exits the room into the hallway.

To her amusement she always found new insults and disgusting remarks imbedded into the walls around the school. Most of them where directed to either how shitty the school was or how shitty the staff was. Sometimes both.

The halls where empty since it was early hours, most of the kids where either sleeping or outside on watch.

As she walked down the hall she rubbed her thumping eyes with the palm of her hands. She didn't get much sleep last night and the sleep she did get wasn't in the best conditions especially since she slept with her back against the torn up wall.

As she approached the double doors that lead out the admin building the blinding waves of sunlight beat her eyes and gave her a headache. She whispered to herself "Get the fuck out of my eyes. Ugly ass sun." Agitation clouded her mind. Her insults to the sun only seemed to backfire as the light source seemed to intensify.

She opened the double doors and strolled out a few paces and was disturbed by Willy running out of the basement screaming bloody murder. He tripped over his uncoordinated feet and then Ruby came hightailing out of the basement with a metal pipe at hand aiming it at Willy.

"Willy! I'm goin to whip your ass!" Willy scrambled to his feet and took off. "I told you no more bombs!" Willy running frantically accidentally ran into Aasim causing himself to fall on his face. Before he could get up he was met with the redhead standing over-top of him with the pipe pointing at him. "Please! Ruby! I won't make anymore!" She cocked back the pipe and hit his arm, a loud thud echoed through the courtyard. He let out a screech. "No more bombs or it'll be worse next time." Willy shook his head violently and ran past Clem into the admin building.

The fear in his eyes disturbed the young light-skinned teen. She knew that he was still upset with Mitch's death which is something she could relate to. There was still a empty void in her heart with Lee gone, seeing Willy in distress only brought back the mental pain of loss and grief.

As the door behind her slammed, a piece of glass broke off of the window causing it to fall to the ill-shaded concrete floor.

The 16 year old cast her face towards the red-headed Ruby who was hunched over near the flagpole. Ruby's body struggled for air. It was a wonder how she was able to stay so plump after all these years, especially since the school had been struggling to get rations sorted out for the past year. If a stranger where to see Ruby they would believe that the school was rich with food.

Clementine makes a short journey to her. As she approaches, Ruby lays the old rusted pipe onto the earth. Ruby caught a glimpse of Clem's signature baseball cap and she quickly adjusted herself to begin conversation.

As she patted down her clothing she projected her face to Clementine "How ya doin Clem." Her voice was in an agitated state. Clementine cleared her throat.

"Damn Ruby. You really scared the shit out of him." Clem gave her an impressed but perturbed face. "I told 'im no more bombs and he ignored me." The sweat running down her brow. Clem came to Willy's defense "You should probably go a little easier on him... he's still hurting with what happened to Mitch and making bombs was a Mitch and Willy thing." Ruby shot a stern face at Clem but meeting her eyes caused Ruby's face to soften "I know... I just don't want 'im to get 'imself hurt or killed." Clem's heart warmed and a slight weight on her chest seemed to be relieved.

The hazel eye girl changed the subject. She looked in every perceivable direction "Where'd Louis go?" The tone in her voice was sturdy as ever. Ruby mulled about it for a moment and then her wrinkled forehead eased in eureka "He and Aasim decided that it'd be best if we got the greenhouse working again." She paused for a moment "I heard 'em talk about getting some gardening tools to get the weeds out." A smile broke through Clem's chubby cheeks "They really think they can get it working again?" Ruby's face filled with optimism responded "Yeah... well I don't know about Louis... but... I think Aasim can find a way." They both chuckled at Ruby's remark about Louis' laziness.

The sun was beating down on their necks. Both didn't want to be out in it's path for too long.

Clem then began serious conversation "Do you know where Vi and Minnie are?" Ruby shot back as if it where an insult "Clem. You really shouldn't be goin around 'em right now." Clem caught a glimpse of Tenn who was drawing as usual by the picnic tables "I know... I-I just have to see how they're doing. It won't take long."

Ruby ponders on the concept of Clem talking to the couple. After a short intense argument to herself she sighed "They're in Vi's room." Clem gave her a nod and started her feet towards Vi's room when Ruby desperately grabbed her arm bringing the petite teen to a sudden stop "Seriously Clem... don't linger around for long." The teen gave Ruby a nod and started her way to Vi's room.

Halfway to the double doors of the admin building she caught another glance of the scared face boy in his our hemisphere. She decided it was best to talk to the boy and get a scouting report of how Vi and Minnie where doing. She without stopping her movement and changed her momentum towards Tenn.

The sacred faced boy was hunched over the table. He had a blue colored pencil and was shading in some of the figures he had drawn on his paper. Clem noticed how lively his character looked, the sun reflected off his skin and brought to her a mood of charity.

As she neared, an intangible humming came from Tenn's position. The scared faced boy turned his attention to the light footsteps in front of him.

Upon meeting her face he gave a radiant expression. She gave him her soft eyes and sat beside him "What are you drawing?" Her attention was now centered on his art piece. He took no time to respond "I don't know... I had an itch to draw something... but I didn't know what it was... so I just drew what came to heart." He stared at his art piece.

The drawing was one of the best Clementine had seen Tenn make. He must have been working on it for multiple days because it wasn't one of his normal stick figure drawings. It had all the boarding school kids out in the courtyard helping each other out. Clem noticed how he place Louis, AJ, and herself close to one another holding hands. Her hardened heart always bloomed soft when with the thought of her boys. AJ would make her heart warm and Louis... The thought of the boy gave her a weird feeling in her chest that she had never felt before. It was almost as if her heart was yearning for something but she couldn't find the remedy to cure it. 

He broke her concentration to explain his drawing "Thank you Clem... thank you for bringing my sister back." He paused as he choked up. "You'll never understand how much it means to me." He looked up at the brown haired girl who was frozen. "I know Minnie and Vi haven't been treating you very well... but they'll come around."

Hearing their names snapped her back to why she came to talk to the young boy in the first place "How are they holding up?" He cast his face down "They're slowly getting better... they don't talk to anybody but to themselves or me... they talk to Louis occasionally, especially Vi."

As he continued his voice became more somber "I know they're upset with you... but just know that I'll never forget what you did for us." She gave Tenn a prolonged hug "Don't thank me Tenn... you guys are my family now and family looks out for one another." He gladly accepts her embrace.

Suddenly enlightened he changed the subject "You know... Louis never shuts up about you." He gave a whispering chuckle at his remark. The girl feels her face get hot but tries to control the blush "Oh yeah." The boy smiled and replied "Yeah... I don't know what you've done but, I've never seen him like his before."

She smiled, it felt like someone was melting marshmallows over-top of her pulsating heart but she changed the subject "You think I could drop by Vi's room to check on them?" His body slumped over the table as he mulled over the proposition. He glanced at his drawing and made his conclusion "I think it'd be a good idea." Clem smiled at him and gave him one more hug "Love ya Tenn." A grin formed on the boy's mouth "Love ya Clem." He disengaged her embrace and went back to his drawing. The girl swung her legs out form the picnic table and made her way towards the couple's room.

She made her way through the old deteriorating school. Each step produced its own unique creek and crack. Most of the wallpaper was either ripped to shit or the earth had started to grow through it.

Clem spotted Violets room and the closer she brought herself to it, she could hear inaudible conversations on the other side.

She stood at the door for a moment and prepared herself for the backlash of what their response could be hearing her voice. She gave a huff and a puff and twitched her upper lip.

She knocked on the door. The voices on the other end seemed to ignore the knock as their conversations continued. She knocked a little louder but still no answer. She then banged on the door several times before a vicious voice answered the call "Fuck off!"

Clem recognized it was Vi. Clem cleared her throat and spoke "Vi... I just wanted to check on you." Vi recognized who it was and grew agitated "Fuck off! I fucking mean it!" Clem's face became long and sad. She didn't understand why Violet has rejected every attempt she has made to talk to her. She accepted that they wouldn't let her in so she gave up "Okay... I'll go."

She begins to walk away when Vi's door opens. Clem looked back to be met by Minnie. She gave Clem a menacing expression. Minnie slammed the door and they started their conversation again. Clem walked away with the hope that one day they would come around.

She started her way back to the courtyard when she heard a familiar friendly voice greet her from behind.

"Clem!" AJ came rushing with his arms opened wide. "Hey kiddo!" His happiness radiated onto her. She followed up his jolly greeting "You sleep well?" His giant grin gave her his answer. She continued to probe answers out of the boy "You eat the stew Lou brought you?" His eyes lit up and his brow curled towards his afro causing his forehead to wrinkle "He got that for me?" With her face still concentrated on the youth she answered "Sure did." He shook with excitement and embraced her hips with a hug "He's the best!" Clem's throat tightened with his remark.

"You mind if I have a sleepover with Tenn tonight. He wants to do some art project?" A smile grew on her face "I don't see why not!" He shakes with joy and gives her another hug around her waist"I love you Clem." With him in her arms she one-up his statement "I love you more kiddo." He pulled away from her hips and shot towards the courtyard.

She herself was heading in that direction to meet with James. She watched the boy shoot out down the hallway and she thought to herself _I wish Kenny could see him now_. A tear almost broke through her eye but she fought the it back into her tear duct.

Clem walked out the admin building and started her way to the front gate. She saw Aasim talking to Ruby near the cellar and decided it was best to tell Aasim where she was going before she went out.

She came up to the tall slender teen and told "I'm going to check on James before it gets dark." Aasim gave her a nod. She started her way before she stopped herself to ask Aasim a question "How's Louis been today?" His face grew soft and surprising happy "I don't know what's gotten into him but he's been a real help today... I thought he was going to have me doing all the work but I found that for the first time he out worked me today."

The news made her worry a bit because that's not his usual self but she liked to see Aasim and him get along for once. She gave him an elated smile as she walked away.

When she got to the gate Aasim called her from Omar's makeshift kitchen, she turned to his voice and saw him waiving her down. She traveled to him "Omar said to give James this."

In his hand was a bowl of rabbit meat. Aasim added a comment as she grabbed the bowl in his hands "Omar thought he could use a hot meal for once." She quickly responded "I think he'd like that." She searched herself to make sure she had all of her belongings and walked out the gate to began her search.

Ever since the attack on the boat, James has been hanging out by the School perimeter keeping stray walkers away from the school. He has refused to move into their school but he camps around the perimeter.

The air was fair and so was the weather. The light breeze truffled loose objects that lay on the earth. Over the course of her journey Clem had grown to appreciate the peacefulness of nature.

The sky was turning to a dark carmel and the breeze sent chills through her spine. Her movement has become hardly noticeable over the years on the road. Her graceful foot movement allowed herself to walk on any terrain with nearly no audiable trace.

Her environmental awareness was also flawless. She could hear the slightest crack or whisper the earth produced.

She had been walking for nearly an hour when she heard a slight groan from a faint distance. A walker emerged from the bark of a tree that was nearly fifty feet from her position.

She took no time to react. She layed James' food next to a scattered pile of sticks and she unsheathed her knife from her back pocket.

She migrated to the slow being. She scanned his movement and concluded that he was an abnormally slower walker. She quickly planned her attack with the information she gathered.

She punted the walkers knee and the old rotten tendons holding his knee together flew off of the bone. He fell onto his exposed stomach and she swiftly ended his suffering with meeting the back of his head with the end of her blade.

Suddenly she heard a snap of a twig from behind her and made a quick 360 with her knife thrusting at the noise.

The 'walker' caught her hand before the blade could make contact with him.

Clementine realized who it was and her tone became soft once again "James!" He recognized the voice with the face and took his mask off. "Hello Clementine... What are you doing out?"

He released his grip from her hand and gave her a shy and awkward smile. She took a look at the bowl that she laid next to the twigs. She gave him her response "I have something for you." His brow curled at her statement.

He witnessed her jog over to a bowl and make her way back to him. He scanned the bowl and her voice gained his attention "I wanted to make sure you're okay and we thought you could use a homemade meal." His eyes glowed "You're too generous."

He fell silent for a moment and mulled over a question he had been wanting to ask the curly haired teen "How's AJ?"

She reaccounted all of her interactions with him from the previous month "He's still AJ." His face loosens and he smiles "Good... I was worried that killing Lilly would change him."

He looked at the food and back to Clem "Thank you for the food and checking on me... You can go back inside. I'll keep the walkers away." She quickly snapped a question out of her head "Come move in with us... we see you as a part of our family you know." He shot his eyes to hers when he heard her proposal. His eyes gave projected guilt and troublesome.

After mulling for a couple of minutes he spoke up "I don't think I'm ready yet Clementine." The news disappointed her but she respected his wishes. She turned herself away from him to start her way back home, but then a sudden urge hit her stomach.

She turned back around with the young man looking at his food and she gave him an unexpected hug. He was startled by the gesture. He hadn't been hugged since he lost Charlie.

"Thank you James... seriously." She let go of him and looked at his face which grew red from embrassment "I'll see you later Clementine... and tell AJ that I said hi." She gave him a cheeky smile and started her way back home.

The gate of the school looked like a scene from an old medieval castle, especially as it got darker outside. She pushed the gate open, just enough to fit her small stature through the crack and she shut it. The glare from the moon fit perfectly with her dark complexion.

On her way back home she made plans to talk with AJ and see how he was doing before she went back to her room to catch some sleep.

As she reached the flagpole the country tuned voice of Ruby found its way to Clem's small ears. "Hey Clem.. Could you come over for a sec?" Clem shifted her feet and momentum towards the red-haired girl who was in conversation with Aasim.

"Yeah Ruby." Ruby ended her conversation with Aasim who made his way back towards the admin building.

Ruby focused her attention onto the light-skinned girl "Louis wanted me to tell you that he'll be in the music room." Clem's gentle hazel eyes cast themselves to the ground and she gave a puffy laugh. "Of course he'd want me to know."

Ruby giggled at the girl "I've known Louis for a long time Clem... a really long time... I see him as my big brother... He's always been a joker... but when you showed up something inside of him woke up... you've changed him Clem... and he thinks the world of you."

Ruby noticed that her speech made Clementine's cheeks turn to ruby red. Ruby smiled at the young girl "He really does love you Clem." The curly-haired girl ended their conversation "I have some things to settle... I'll see you tomorrow Ruby." Ruby noticed her discomfort and decided to leave her statement at that. She nodded and Clem strolled away.

Clem enters the building and is welcomed with the faint noise of a piano. Her pulse hastens as she approaches the music.

The door to the music room was cracked open and she could see the young man composing his song. She recognizes the melody of the song. It's the one he named after her when she confessed her feelings for him.

The piano was a worn down instrument before the world went to shit but Louis had kept it as good condition as he could.

She silently motioned the door open. The boy catches her in the corner of his eye but decides to play the song through.

Clementine stood by the entrance of the door and attentively listened to the piano's language.

Louis plays the last note and turns his puffy face towards the girl "How's my Queen doing this fine evening?" She smiles and rolls her eyes to his comment "I'm doing just fine Lou."

Her voice is treasured by the young man. She glides her body next to the boy. She scans the piano keys and familiarizes herself with the instrument. He then places her fingers on the keys and shows her a simple song that helped him when he first started.

He played it through with no faults and motioned for her to try "Trust me if a halfwit like me can do it, it'll be nothing for you." She smirked, but came to his defense "You're not a halfwit." He laughed at her comment "I'm not sure about that." She laughed under her breath then attempted to play the song he showed her.

Her fingers caress the keys and she presses them. Louis' skin shivered. He wasn't sure why he feels like this towards the girl. Everytime he got to make her forget about the fucked up world and it's dangers, it made him feel like he was worth something. He was so use to everyone treating him like a jester. But she saw more in him than he realized he had.

He found himself lost in her copper skin, examining it from her petite fingers to her hair. He felt as if no matter what he told her that she wouldn't truely understand what she meant to him. He couldn't think of any words that could bring his feelings justice, so he would usually keep them to himself.

She giggled when she completed the song flawlessly. Her voice broke the boy out of his thoughts. Her glowing face beamed to his from satisfaction "I can't believe I did it." Her voice was full of enthusiasm. A captivating smile revealed the young mans teeth.

"You know, If you keep this up you'll be better than me by tomorrow." She giggled at his comment. He lives for those moments when he can make her smile or laugh, he tries every opportunity he gets because he loves to bring joy to her life.

"I mean you still won't beat me in the comedic category." Her face focused on his freckles "Are you saying that I'm not funny?" He smiles and his iconic airy voice bounces through the room "We can't be good at everything Clementine." She holds her right hand onto her heart "Ouch... that hurt."

Without thinking he places his right hand on her right hand which lay overtop of her heart. The girl suddenly breathless but doesn't move his hand away. She glances down at her chest and brings her eyes to his. Her heartbeat has grown wild, she hopes he doesn't notice but he does.

They bore into each other's souls for what seemed for eternity, trying to collect who they where on the inside. Goosebumps smoother their skin. Neither of them knew what to say, but they enjoyed this moment.

Louis breaks away from her golden iris' and looks at the piano "Those are a nice pair of letters." She looks to the piano to find the initials they carved into the piano and the heart that covered their names "Yeah... they are." The smile never leaving her face.

Without taking his hand away from her heart he states "Now that you've mastered 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' I think we can actually challenge you now." She surprisingly enjoyed his music lessons, it had been years since she heard music before they came to the School and him teaching her made it even more special.

He forbearingly pulled his hand away from her heart. She found herself aching for his touch. She found that for the past couple of weeks when they're together she gets an urge in her stomach for the contact of his skin.

His heart screamed penitence for changing the subject "I went to Tenn's room earlier to see how he was doing and I found him and AJ working on some sort of project... AJ said that he wanted you to talk to him before they went to bed."

She pivoted her head to find a clock on a wall but she couldn't find one "What time is it?" He moved his head to the entrance where a clock stood mounted on the wall in the hallway across from the wooden frame "A little over 10:30." She quickly responded "I guess I should check on him."

He observantly surveyed as she got off the stool. She stared into the boy's eyes and a compassionate gitty smile overtook her.

Louis' eyes are frozen on the curls of her hair as she walks away. His eyes move their way down her body, once again looking at her waist. He angrily shuts his eyes and looks away. He beats himself over his teenage thoughts _stop doing that you idiot_ he curses himself in his thoughts.

As she approaches the door he tells her "I'll see you in a little." She looks back to see him staring at the piano keys "See you soon." Her voice brings him out of his internal battle.

After walking 5 minutes through a hallway infested with profanity and graffiti she found herself at Tenn's door. She tenderly knocked on the old wooden door.

She is met with AJ's afro pushing against her hip "Clem!" The contact made her flinch "Hey kiddo!" He grabbed her hand and dragged her inside "Look at what me and Tenn are making."

The cardboard was wrinkled to hell but it was being used as a poster board for their project.

Tenn sat next to the board with a paintbrush in hand "Hey Clem." His crackly voice peirced the air. She investigated the board "What are you guys making?" She sat on the floor next to AJ who had already ran and continued his work.

Tenn answered "We're making a poster for Aasim." Clementine's face squinted in confusion "Why does Aasim want a poster?" AJ laughed "It's for Ruby." Clementine smiled _how cute_ she thought to herself.

AJ picked up a brush and held it out towards Clem "You want to help?" His toothy grin propelled her to reply "Yeah... Why not." The young boy giggled. She stared at the poster "What do you want me to draw?"

AJ squinted "I don't know." The room fell silent for a moment then Tenn got an idea "Could you write (Will you be my girlfriend) at the bottom." She was elated that he didn't ask her to draw something superb "Sure thing Tenn."

Louis played the last key to his song._ I'll call that a night for this old girl_ he thought to himself. He stood from the stool and headed towards the door _I should check on Vi_. He made his way to the blonde girls room.

He cautiously knocked on the blondes door. No answer. He knocked again but added his voice to the knock "Vi... it's me.. Louis." He heard faint footsteps coming towards the door. The doorknob twisted and out came Violet. He stared into her eyes "Wanna talk?" She studied the floor for a moment "Yeah... C-Come in."

He entered the room and found Minnie asleep in Vi's bed. He sat across from the sleeping girl on the opposite bunk bed. Violet moved herself next to Louis and sat down with him.

He looked around the room to see if he could notice anything different but nothing had changed since yesterday. He then looked at the blonde girl who had her face downcast to the floor "What's going on in their Vi."

Since the walker outbreak Louis has acted like a big brother to her. Even in her darkest times she welcomed his presence with open arms because she knew that he truely cared for her.

She kept her face downcast "I... um... When you go back to Clementine tonight can you tell her I'm sorry." Louis looks at her curiously as he hears her sniffing to clear her runny nose.

He then answered "Wait— you guys spoke today." She glanced at his overcoat "Well... she tried but I-um-I pushed her away." She finally made eye contact with the boy "Just tell her I'm sorry ok?"

He saw the pain in her eyes and embrace her body "Come here." She allowed him wrap his arms around her frame, she then added "Do you think she'll be mad?"

Louis quickly answered "No. I think she'll be more than happy." She sniffed again "Thanks Lou." He held onto her for a moment "You know I'm always here for you. Don't forget that." The blonde looked at the sleeping girl across from them "Minnie can't stand Clem, just mentioning her name makes her violent."

Louis moved his eyes to the redhead on the bed "She'll come around." Violet moved her eyes to the floor "Maybe."

Louis canceled his hug and stood up. He looked down at the girl "Get some sleep... ok." She nodded and he made his way out. "Also Vi could you spray some perfume or something because it smells like ass in here." She silently laughed to herself and shook her head. Louis felt a joy consume him after seeing her smile.

Before he closed the door he told her "If you ever wanna talk, just ask." She nodded again and he closed the door.

Louis stood outside the door for a brief moment _I should go talk to Marlon and Brody_. He sadly made his way to the graveyard.

He caught sight of the wooden cross that had 'Marlon' engraved. He stood beside it and caught a glimpse of Brody's grave. He whispered under his breath "I'm sorry what happen to you guys... You guys are family and I won't forget that... I'll miss seeing your reddish brown hair Brody..."

He then focused on his best friends grave and knelt down "I don't know why you did what you did... I don't know if I should miss you or hate you for what you did... I hope that your heart was in the right place buddy... I'd hate to see you hurting in the afterlife."

The brown skinned boy stood his ground and walked between their graves. He knelt down and placed his left hand on Marlon's gravestone and his right hand on Brody's. His head was shot downwards "I hope we get to see one another again... one day." He rose from his kneeling position and made his way to Clementine's room.

"That looks nice Clem!" AJ was astonished with her artistic ability. She added Aasim's and Ruby's initials at the bottom with a heart around them "Thanks goofball." He shot a serious face at her "Goofball?" The scared face boy cocked his head.

AJ quickly shot "It's AJ... I'm too big for goofball Clem." Tenn laughed learning AJ's old nickname and AJ was embarrassed. "Sorry kiddo, I'm still getting use to it." His face grew long.

She put her brush down "I'm going to bed kiddo, it's getting late." He rushed to her and hugged her while she was sitting "I'll see you in the morning, and we won't be up for too long so don't worry." She hugged him back. She got her feet from beneath her and made her way back to her room "Night AJ." She closed the door and heard his muffled voice "Night Clem."

She opened the creaky door to her room. She gave a tired huff. She moved her feet to the bed frame and placed her hat onto its frame. She brushed her fingers through her hair _god I need to cut my hair._ She took off her boots and placed them next to the desk of her bed.

She then walked to her closet and brought out a pair of jogging shorts she found hidden away in the closet a couple of nights ago. She took off her jacket and unzipped her pants. She laid her clothes next to the closet and pulled the jogging shorts over-top her waist.

She was satisfied with how much she was able to move in them compared to jeans. She now was in her long white sleeve shirt and the black joggers. She made her way to her bed and placed herself between the covers.

She lay for a couple of minutes waiting for her eyes to become heavy. When she heard her door creak open. She quickly faked sleeping. She closed her eyelids just enough to make the illusion of being asleep but she was peeking through her eyelids.

Louis crept into the room. He noticed the laying body and attempted to not wake her. He moved to her closet. He noticed that some of her clothes where laying on the ground including her pants _don't even start Louis._ He shook his head and ignored the clothing.

She lay there peeking slightly threw her eyelids to see what he was doing. He took his coat and boots off. He was unable to sleep in bed with pants on so he brung a pair of shorts to her room a couple of nights ago. He took off his pants. She saw his lean legs and then they where covered by a pair of light blue shorts. He then tiptoed to her bed.

He examined her 'sleeping' body. All he can see is her beautiful face and her curly strains of hair. She sees a smile form on the boys face. He opens the covers slowly to not wake her.

He noticed that she has a pair of jogging shorts on and he shook his head trying to erase thoughts out of his head. He lay his body next to her hers, the warmth from her bare skin hit his leg. His heart pulsed with the contact. Her skin was so soft and her heat warmed more than just his skin, his soul roars with her touch.

He was silent for a moment. He looked down to her hair and slipped his fingers threw the silky curls. He whispered into the empty room "If only you knew how much you mean to me." Unannounced to him she heard his statement and that strange feeling in her chest started to hit her in short waves.

He relinquish his hand from her hair and put it above his head and closed his eyes. She grew fond of his slender fingers caressing her hair. Him putting his hand away made her pout to herself.

She re-positioned herself with her head on his lower chest just like the night before. He looked down at her realizing that she had been awake the whole time. He didn't want to ruin the moment so he decided to act as if he she were asleep.

She lay there with her right arm draped over his torso and her head pressed against his centered chest. His heartbeat was alluring. The sounds of his body were as lively as his spirit.

His chest lifted and deflated in a smooth rhythm. The girl was comfortable but her body wasn't tired. She tries to re-position herself a couple of times, but nothing seems to remedy her energy.  
Louis notices her discomfort "You can't sleep either... huh?" The boy's fruity voice brought pleasure to the young teen. Without wasting time her lilting voice replies "No." The boy thinks for a minute "hhhmmmm... Lets see here. What can we do with only the moonlight to guide us?" She rolls her eyes but the boy can't see it. "Do you wanna talk?" His voice finally let out. She sits herself up on the bed and sits crisscross with her back against the torn wallpaper "What do you want to talk about?" The boy lifts his torso up and lays against the metal frame of the bunk-bed.

"We could talk about our past, our friends, how we're feeling..." A witty grin forms on the boys face "..or I could tell you how beautiful you are." The darkness of the room prevents him from seeing the red hue on her flushed face. With a smile on her face she shyly replies "Of course you would say that." He chuckles to himself "And that smile is just the beginning of your beauty Clementine." She shakes her head with embarrassment.

The boy then remembers what the blonde girl asked of him before he left her room. He looks at the girl and feels a sense of enlightenment for the good news he has brought "I went by Vi's room before I headed this way and we talked." The light-skinned girl looked into his eyes and he saw sorrow filling inside them which troubled him. He quickly follows up on his statement to give her relief "Vi said that she was sorry for how she's treated you in the past." He sees hope fill the girls eyes which brought him pleasure "She said that she hoped that you would still want to be friends?" The girl gave herself a moment to process the information and gave her reply "Yeah... That's all I wanted since we got her back."

He notices her bright eyes water and his tender heart cried out to her. He embraces her small structure and gifts her with a hug "I told you she would come around." The girl snotting in his light brown shirt replied "Yeah...You did." Her voice was a little brittle. He prolonged the hug until he felt her breathing slow. He disembarks from her body and her face rises to meet a tender smile from the young boy which gave her security she hadn't felt for a long time.

"I've got an idea!" The boy exclaimes. He gets out of the bed and walks to the dresser. He grabs a box of matches that lay on the left corner. The girl watches him puzzled. He takes a match out and lights the candle on the dresser. "Perfect." He mumbled to himself. He opened the 2nd drawer and brought out his lucky pack of cards. He looks at the girl with a methodical grin "How about a game of cards m'lady." He bows to her.

"What's the game, Lou?" Her brow curls. "Easy, highest card gets to ask the other person a question." He quickly follows up "I thought that we should get to know each other a little more... personally." He sat down on the floor and patted to a spot in front of him with an elastic smile. The girl accepts his invitation "I'd like that." She plants herself in front of him.

He shuffles the deck and holds it out towards her "Pick a card...any card." She goes for the one on the top of the deck. She flips it over and gives him a mischievous grin. "Oh, now does my Clementine think she has me cornered?" He picks the card underneath hers and flips it, his smile turns into a frown instantly "Well... Shit." He places his card down to reveal a two of hearts. She laughs at his misfortune and reveals her ace of spades "Gotcha." He nods his head "Yes my dear, you have wounded me." He bores into her eyes "What would Clementine like to know about boring ol' Louis."

Their eyes never leave each other when she asks him " You have siblings?" "No ma'am. I am the only child." He answers. She nods her head and he holds the deck back out to her with that dumb grin still on his face. She's a little less confident this time. He grabs a card from the middle of the deck and curses his luck "Dammit." His frustration makes the girl giggle which fuels his smile. She reveals her five of spades, he lets out a sigh and reveals his two of spades. "Ask away Clemmy." _Did he just call me Clemmy!?_

"uuuummmm..." She looks at the ceiling to find her question "Have you ever loved somebody before me?" She was curious if she was his first. His playful face dissolved with the question. He lowered his head as if he where in deep thought. "Yes I have... but not in the way you're thinking." His voice was sheepish and shaky. _I shouldn't have asked that. What a fucking idiot._ She beats herself up over the question. "Sorry Lou, I didn't mean to bring back bad memories." The boy quickly defends her "No. Ask any question. I want us to really know who we are." She gives him her tender eyes which comforts him.

He shuffles the deck and holds it out towards her "Beauty before beast." She rolls her eyes "You're not a beast Lou." "Only if you say so." He replies. She grabs the card on the bottom of the deck. She begins to laugh seeing her card. Louis fakes being frustrated "I'm convinced that you're cheating." Her face shoots back "I would never." Her playful voice makes him silently giggle to himself. He grabs the third card from the top of the deck and smirks at the girl. "I think your luck has ran out miss Clementine." With her evil smile smeared on her face she reveals a King. He throws his Queen on the floor landing next to her card. "Okay, yeah, you're cheating, I'm one hundred percent certain." She playfully defends herself "Can't help that I'm blessed with luck." "I'm blessed to have you." The boy counters. A red hue shines through her copper skin. "What is the third thing Clementine would like to know?"

_I really shouldn't ask him_. "Have yo- did yo-." _Don't bring back bad memories. You hate seeing him like that. Why ask that_? "Have I what?" His face squinted puzzled. "Nothing, It was nothi-." He cuts her off "No. What did you want to know? Please ask, I won't be upset." She cautiously asks him "When we first met... You asked me if I had to kill someone I loved, and when I told you the story... I saw pain in your eyes... Did you have to do it too?" The boys heart felt like it was about to pump out of his chest, the question made him feel sick. She studied his reaction and she became sick with guilt _I knew I shouldn't have said anything_. His sorrowful voice breaks through the awkward silence "When all this started I just turned 10 years old. The adults left us to fend for ourselves, Ms. Martin was the only one that stayed to help us. We where all alone Clem. All I had was Marlon and Vi." He gulped and continued his story "As we watched the adults leave, we where all lost, we stood in the court yard and I saw a little girl sitting all by herself crying into her knees." His voice cracked but he continued "Her name was Grace." A tear breaks through the boy's eye which he gently wipes off with his green shirt. "She was 5 years old. No-one looking after her, she had nobody." He paused to collect his thoughts "I took her as my own. She saw me as a big brother, but I felt like I was more than that. I watched over her, made sure she was fed, and gave her a spot in my room." His voice becomes more brittle as he continues "Three years ago she asked me if she could help Ms. Martin work in the greenhouse. I couldn't tell her no, so I let her go with Ms. Martin." He stood and casts his head towards to floor becoming guilt-ridden "About an hour later we heard screams, and saw many of the kids running back from the greenhouse. I became worried, because she wasn't with the crowd running away." He took another big gulp. "I ran through the crowd towards the greenhouse and it was overran by walkers. I screamed and pleaded for Grace, but uh-I-uh." His emotions start to overwhelm him. Clementine tries to stop him "You don't have to-" He cuts her off "She was already gone... It wasn't her anymore... I had to— I had to do it." He snots to himself, and pulls himself together "She died alone and scared." His voice was cowering "I failed her." Clementine lunged her body towards the young man "You didn't fail her Lou!" She half whispered half shouted. "No one gave a damn about her and you took her in as family." She quickly adds. The thoughts of Lee rampaged through her head "When all of this started, I was only 8 years old. That man I've mentioned before." She gulped before saying his name "Lee found me alone and afraid. He took me in his care when I had nobody... You were a blessing to that little girl. Just like Lee was for me."

Her hug faded away. He props his head back up with his eyes giving her attention "What happened to him?" He didn't want to hurt her but this 'Lee' guy intrigued him. **BANG! **The gunshot echoed through her head reliving his final moments. "He di- He died because of me." The boy tries to reassure her "You don't mean tha-." The girl cuts him off "I ran away and got him bit. He-uh-He saved me but he— he got bit trying to get to me." The tense air surrounded them "He asked me to sho— to shoot him... I had to do it." She stared at the floor in deep thought. "I'm sorry... I won't ask about him again." The boys voice cowards from guilt. "I still see him..." She looks up at the boy who is visually confused "He comes and sees me in my dreams every-so-often."

He picks up his deck of cards and shuffled them "Let's get off that subject." He attempts to lighten the mood which works. He holds the deck towards her. She picks a card in the middle of the deck. _Yep... looks like my luck is all out _she thinks to herself_._ The boy grabs the card on the top. She reveals a four of hearts. The boys grin grows "Oh Clemmy Clemmy Clemmy. It looks like the card gods have favored me for a change." He reveals his ace of space. She gives herself a puffy laugh. "What do you want to know Lou?"

The boy answers immediately "What's the worst injury you've had?" He looks at her attentively. She looks down to her left arm. Louis hasn't seen the scars on her body. She couldn't decide which was worse. Her dog bite scar or her New Frontier logo embedded in her arm. _Guess I'll show him both._ He watches her roll up her left sleeve and he sees a massive scar across her forearm. "Holy shit... What did that?" He crawled to her and rubbed his hand on the scar. "A dog attacked me... I had to stitch it myself." He rubs the scar with his thumbs "You know. The more I find out about you, the more badass you get." She giggled which he gave a smile in return.

She gently grabs his hand and takes it off her skin. She rolls her sleeve up more to reveal the embedded New Frontier badge. She notices him staring at it. "A prison tattoo?" He asked jokingly. She giggles "No. I got this with a group that promised to help me with AJ." He studies the mark and touched it tenderly. "Sounds like nice people." He replies nonchalantly. She laughs "Not even close." She rolls her sleeve back down. "I would show you some of my awesome battle-scars, if I had any." He says causally.

His face shoots up with eureka. "I'll be right back." He stands up and walks to the door. "Where are you going?" She asked nervously. He looks back at the light-skinned girl "I have an idea... I'll be right back." She sees a methodical grin escape his lips. He turns away and sneaks out the door.

The girl sits on the floor and thinks about what she has learned about him. _He watched over a little girl._ _Lee would have liked him. Kenny probably wouldn't approve at first, but I think he'd like Louis._ Her train of thought was interrupted with Louis struggling to open the door. He opened it with his one free hand and moved a big object into the room. She noticed it was his gramophone. "What are you planning to do with that?" She asked while studying his every move. He pushed it next to the closet "Well... miss Clementine..." he stopped while putting a record into the device. He got it to play. "perfect." He whispered to himself. A slow jazz song began to fill the room. He walks over to the curly haired teen. He offers his hand to her "Dance with me." The dim lighting in the room lets them see each other blush to the question. "I don't know how to dance Lou." She replies shyly. He grabs her right hand "Neither do I." His reply made her feel less embarrassed. She looks at his hand which is still holding her's "Sure, why not." She gave him a tender smile which warmed his soul. _Thank you god, she didn't turn me down._ He helps the young teen to her feet.

_She's so beautiful. _As she finds her footing she sets her eyes on his chocolate brown iris'. _His eyes are so soft and meaningful. Everything about her is perfet. _He clears his throat. The music still softly playing in the background. "Your hands go here." He places her arms over his shoulder. "And-my hands go here." He says nervously. He puts his hands on her waist. Both of their heartbeats quicken to each other's touch. He leads her in a slow dance.

Their flushed faces never left one another. She speaks up "I'm really starting to like Jazz." "I could teach you a Jazz song on the piano sometime." The boy replies. A grin broke through he lips "I'd like that."

They continue their dance. As the song plays they admire each other's facial feature. She studied his freckles, while he treasured her cheeks and her eyes. They both got more comfortable with one another.

She sunk her head into his shoulder. _He's definitely nervous _she thinks to herself, hearing his heart about to explode. He gently leans his head on hers. The contact of their bodies lets them both know, they're never alone.

An urge in her stomach made her give him a kiss on the cheek. _Her lips are so soft._ "You know... you have some very soft skin for a someone who could kill me in less than a second." The boy says grinning at her face. She giggled "What a dork." She whispers to herself. "Your dork." He replies wittingly.

The song ends. They're both exhausted. They stayed up way longer than they expected. "I'm pretty tired Lou." She says to him. "Then let's hit the hay." His bouncy voice replies. She walks over and lays herself inside the covers.

The boy turns the gramophone off and blows the candle out.

He lays beside her. She cuddles around his body, wrapping her left leg over his lower legs. The contact of their skin gave them both goosebumps. She lay her head on his chest and listens the beating of his heart which retreats her into her dreams.

The boy plays with her hair for a moment "I know I say it a lot Clem." He pauses. The girl listens to him "But-I-uh-I love you." The boy says. He wanted to say more but he couldn't find the words to describe how he truly felt.

He laid his arm around her with his hand at her waist. He retreated to his dreams.

The girl laid thinking about what he said. She didn't know how to explain her feelings either. **_I Love You Too_. **She thought to herself.

**Sorry For the long wait. This is a pretty long episode so I hope this makes up for the time. I hope you enjoyed.**


	4. The Brown Eyed Lamb

**BOOM BOOM**  
Louis jolts awake to the sound of monstrous thunder overhead. He looks around and notices he is in Clementine's room. He realizes that the bed is cold with only his body in it. "Clementine?" He whispers into the dark. _Where did she go_ he thinks to himself. The boy sits on the edge of the bed.

The sky continues its roar. The moonlight was strong, giving his surroundings clarity but giving off an eerie vibe. The earth is crying to itself.

The boy looks towards the window. The rain droplets are fat and hit the broken glass with impressive force. "LOUIS!" A muffled voice cries from the door. The boy is startled and jumps back. He couldn't make out the inaudible feminine voice. _Clementine? _He jogs towards the door and opens it.

"AAAAHHHH!" The feminine voice screeches as the boy opens the door. A powerful wave of thunder claimed the air. The voice came from down the hallway. He jogs down the hallway and the feminine voice becomes louder and more distinct "GET RUBY!". _Clementine! _The boy recognizes the voice. The sky releases another thundering wave of vibrations.

The hallway is filled with blood. The boy cautiously walks down the long hallway towards the double doors leading out of the admin building. The sticky blood oozes down the walls and drips to the red painted floor. "CLEMENTINE!" This was a different voice. The voice of AJ broke through the thunderous sky. _"_AJ?" The boy questions cautiously. The storm outside seems to grow wilder.

The boy's legs start to tremble in fear the closer he gets to the doors. He can't seem to breath and his throat starts to tighten. "MINNIE!" The voice of Violet pierced through the storm.

By the time he has makes it to the doors, his body has been covered with the blood from the leaky ceiling. The screeches and cries have only intensified the closer he got. He reached out and touched the handles to the doors.

**BANG BANG**  
The boy jumps from the smashing noise behind him. The door to the basement was shaking as if someone was trying to get out but it was locked. He unconsciously moved towards the door. He twists the handle and it is unlocked. The boy timidly peers his head through the crack and scans the environment. A small figure sits with its back turns toward him. "Hello?" The boys voice is shaky and terrified.

The small figure's features are hard for him to identify but he can tell that she has blonde hair. He can hear her soft whimpers. He opens the door and makes his way down to her. As he gets closer he sees blood painted on the left side of her neck. "Louis?" The little figure's voice is feminine and gentle. She turns her face to his. The boy stops abruptly. A guilt filled inside of him that he hasn't felt since she died "Grace?" The pitch of his voice was sharp and higher pitched than usual.

The little girl stood up and turned her small body towards his. Her loose clothing reveals a massive bite mark on her tiny neck. Their eyes lock "I'm sorry." The boy weeps to her. He drops to his knees which brings him eye level with the girl. "I missed you." The little girls plump voice hits his soul. She scans his bloody body and runs to embrace him.

She tightens her grip on his neck. Tears break through both of their eyes. Without breaking from his neck she whispers into his ear "She needs you." Her body disappears from his. He loses her touch and she fades with the wind. "LOUIS!" Clementine's voice bursts into his eardrums from the cellar door.

He makes his way to the metal doors and pushes it open. He's met with the downpour of earth's tears. "NO! AJ!" He hears her voice again but this time it is more sad than desperate. He looks all around but the heavy rain blurs most of his vision. The storm is unnaturally powerful and is restless.

The boy catches three figures in his eye, which are a distance from him. He can't tell who they are, they are only silhouettes. He notices the smallest figure on the ground and second smallest of them hunched over the fallen silhouette. As he approaches he witnesses the third shadow jab something into the back of the hunched shadow. "AAAAHHHH!" Clementine's voice fills the air and he sees the silhouette fall over next to the smaller figure. The last standing shadow is fairly taller than the other two and notices the boy approaching itself. It drops an object from its hand and takes off towards the graveyard.

The boy finally makes it to the once silhouettes. It's Clementine and AJ. Both are surrounded by a pool of blood. Both are lifeless and emotionless. "Clem... AJ..." the boy falls over in defeat. He crawls to the girls body and flips her over. Her body is limp. He examines her face. Her beauty no longer has her soul. He pulls her body to his chest and hugs her tight. Tears mix with the rain running down his face. "Plea-Please don't leave m-me..." His voice is so brittle that only himself would know what he said.

He pulls AJ's lifeless body and lays the little boy's head on his mother's lap. He pulls the girl's head to meet his. _She's cold._ Her body radiates no warm to his. "I-I'm s-sorry." He cries into her forehead. "MINNIE!" Violets screams.

Louis jolts awake from the nightmare with sweat dripping down his brow. His breathing is raspy and his heart feels like it's about to burst in his chest.

There it is again. She feels his heartbeat rise and his breathing becomes raspy. _He had it again_ she thought to herself. She decided to give him a second to gather his thoughts, but then a grieving voice whispers to the dark dorm "Please stop... Please... Don't wake her." He fights with all his power to stop himself from breaking down. _Calm yourself Louis _he fights with himself inside his head. She can hear his little whimpers and cries "It's only a dream... Just calm down Lou." His whispers continue to fill the quiet room.

His cries continue. She lay on his chest hearing him battle his demons. It broke her heart, a couple of rouge tears broke through her eyelids and made their way to his shirt. He notices something wet on his chest and looks down noticing the source coming from where her face lays. _Shes awake... and she's crying _the thought of her hurt disturbed him. He travels his right hand down to her hair and starts to caress it "Don't be upset Clem... I'm fine." His raspy and quivered voice only makes her more upset.

His hand twirls threw her thick curly black hair. She moves closer to him clinging to his left side. His chest still moving abnormally due to grief. "Please sleep Clem... I'll be fine." She didn't want him to be alone while he was upset, but she believed that if she listened to him it would let him know she trusts him. She breaks eye contact with the wall and closes her eyes trusting what he said. "I love you Lou, don't stay up too long." Within a minute she noticed his body calming. He was becoming less tense and more relaxed. Her voice seemed to cure his grief. His heartbeat slowed and she could hear his breathing calm. _I'm sorry_ the boy sobs to himself before retreating to his dreams.

She lay awake a couple more minutes listening to him and his body's reactions. She found that he fell back to sleep. She smiled and did the same.

She awoke four hours later with him still at her side. The warmth from his body merged with her skin. _I really don't want to get up _the girl thinks to herself. The girl lifts her head up and examines the boy's face. _He's so cute when he's sleeping._ She smiled seeing the boy look so peaceful and the smile on his face was a moment to capture.

_I should get ready. _She decides it was time to start the day. She removed herself from his body and began to crawl out of the bunk bed. The movement woke the boy from his dreams. The girl sees him move and she stops herself to look at him. His eyes flutter open. "Hey Lou." The girl was overtop of his legs about to climb out of the bed. He gave her a sincere look "Could you maybe... lay with me for a little longer." He saw a smile grow on the girls face. "Yeah, I didn't want to go yet anyways." Her response made the boy feel important.

She laid back down and cuddled her body against his. They lay in silence for a moment when the girl makes conversation. "You did good last night Lou." He started to run his hand the her hair again. "I wish it would go away." He quickly adds "Last night seemed... so real... and it's only becoming more real every night." He sounded terrified to the girl. "You know, the dreams I have with Lee seem like they're real too... almost as if he was really here." The thought depressed the girl. The talk of Lee made the boy remember the little girl in his dream which made him feel guilty "I saw Grace." His defeated voice dominated the room. "I haven't seen her since she died." The picture of the little girl with the bite on her neck replayed in his head. With his hand still playing with her hair the girl comforts him "I'm sorry Lou."

They lay together in silence for a moment before Louis asks the girl a question.

"You know, there has been something that I've wanted to ask you Clem?" The girl swivels her head to meet his gaze. "And what's that?" She asks attentively. "Why'd you ask me to move in with you and AJ? I mean, I really enjoy being around you guys more, but why?" The girl sits herself up against the torn wall and the boy sits himself up on the metal beam that holds the top bunk. She stares at the bed for a moment to gather her thoughts. As she does this Louis continues to study her beauty _Out of all the people she could have chose, she chose me. _He chuckled to himself with the thought. The girl then finds her response " To be honest Lou..." She pauses trying to find the right words. " I was just tired, tired of being scared to sleep. AJ and I have always been haunted in our dreams, and I-I was hoping that they'd go away with you with us." Her gentle voice flows into his ears and he thinks about what she said. "And for the most part, they've gone away. AJ hasn't had one since you moved in and I've only had a couple. You being here with us... makes us feel safe... if that makes sense." Her glowing eyes meet with his once again. _Feel safer? The badass Clementine feels safer with my scrawny ass?_ "I would be honored to get my ass kicked to protect my Queen and her Prince." He gave her a smirk. She rolled her eyes. "And speaking of asses being kicked. Would you teach me how to fight. I mean I already know how to fight the smelly patrol outside the gates, but I am not the greatest, how would you phrase it, combatant against other people." His voice was as lively as ever. "Only in one condition." An evil grin formed on her face. "And what could that one condition be, I wonder, I wonder." "You have to teach me the jazz song we danced to." She quickly responded. He matched her evil grin "Deal." He reaches his hand out for a handshake. "Deal." The girl responds and shakes his hand.

Their handshake ends and they rest their bodies against their respected corners thinking about what to talk about next.

"I know that this is a random question but I've always wondered. Why do you love me Lou?" He didn't have to think about his answer, which surprised the young teenage girl "When I saw Marlon and Brody bringing you guys in I was scared because we rarely saw other people and you guys where strangers living in our walls." The boy pauses for a second to gather his thoughts " When I first saw you, well, you of course where beautiful, but I didn't feel anything yet." He pauses again "But when AJ woke up and I got to see what kind of person he was, I knew that you where a good person. I mean AJ was extremely friendly, scared but friendly. He talked and talked about you. He told me just about everything about you while you where asleep. I took him a couple of times to check on you... and seeing the bond he had with you at your bedside, was something I always wanted with someone." He pauses for the final time " I'm extremely lucky that you saw more in me than I saw in myself... Without you I'm nothing... That's why I love you." Her face grew red from his answer. _He's always so hard on himself. _" If you ever feel like your nothing to nobody Lou... Just remember that to me and AJ you're family." They sit silent for a moment "Why do you love me Clem?" She thought about her answer for a moment "At first I thought you where just a big dork." The remark made both of them chuckle. "But in those two to three weeks I got to know you better, I saw that underneath all of those jokes and that dorky personality was a person who truly cares for others, which is more important than life itself." She paused for a moment " You make me feel alive. A part of my life I thought I would never feel again."

They continue with small talk for a couple more minutes. Clementine then decides that it's time for them to go outside.

"I should really be going. It looks like it's around noon." He looks into her iris' "Go ahead I'll be on my way in a minute." the girl moves her way to the edge of the bed and stretches her knees. She winces in pain. "Are you good Clem?" The boy was about to move over to her to help. "Yeah I'm fine. My knees just hurt when I rest for too long." After a couple more waves of pain she is able to warm-up her knee joints and disembarks from the bed to get changed. He watches her as she slides her jogger shorts off to change into her pants. She reveals her bare body from her thigh down, covered by only her underwear. He was flabbergasted that she took her clothes off in front of him. He didn't know she was that comfortable with him looking at her nearly naked.

She had her back turned as she fiddled with the pants. He fought the urge of lust. _Stop thinking about that Louis you fucking idiot._ He mentally goes to war with himself over his lustful side. He didn't fall in love with her because of her looks or her body. He looked at her for a second and disengaged his gaze out of her respect.

She noticed him awkwardly looking at everything in the room to try to distract himself from her. "Louis?" She turns her near naked body to him. The boy still looking around the room answers her "Yes." "You can look at me if you want... You know right? I don't mind." He broke his awkward swivel and pierced into her hallucinative eyes "Your voice makes me happy enough." He notices her face turn red. She slips on the pants. "Come here for a sec." She timidly walks over to his side and bends over to hear what he wants. He pecks her a kiss on the cheek which makes her face flush "You better go before Ruby throws a temper tantrum." The boy then puffs his chest out and tries to impersonate Ruby's tough guy act "What the hell Clem. You're becoming as a lazy as Louis." Clementine laughs at his impersonation because it was pretty terrible. "That was terrible Lou." He holds onto his heart but then smiles at her "It made you laugh, so I accomplished my job." They exchange smiles to one another and she departs from the room. "See you when I see you." She says as she closes the door.

"Hey Vi, it's pretty stuffy in here today." The red headed Minnie states to the blonde girl. The blonde who is at their closet turns her body to her girlfriend "Open the window or something." Vi tells the redhead. _Fuck that I want to go outside. _Minnie thinks to herself. "I was thinking that we go out to the courtyard instead." Violet who was searching for a pair of clean clothes stops abruptly and goes silent. Minnie gets frustrated "What?!" Her frustration makes Vi give her an answer "I mean Clem will probably be there." Upon hearing the name the redhead grows extremely angry _I fucking hate that bitch. God I just wanna strangle the life out of her, watch as she goes limp and see the life drain from her body. _Minnie thinks to herself. Her hands grow tight and she loses consciousness for a brief moment from her rage. The blonde notices the girl with fist clenched staring off at the wall. "Minnie?" The blonde's nervous voice asks. The redhead doesn't move. Vi walks over to her and places a hand on her shoulder "Hey Minnie?" Minnie gains her conscious back. She looks around the room confused for a moment. "I guess a little bit of fresh air wouldn't hurt." Vi tells the girl. A menacing grin firms on Minnie's face "Yeah lets go."

Clem enters the hallway and is greeted by AJ who is on his way back to their room.

"Hey kiddo!" Her eyes locked to her child "Come give me a hug." AJ runs to her open arms and hugs her "I'm pretty tired Clem." His eyes where baggy and dark shaded "Go to the room. Louis is still in there, he can get you set up for a nap." He gave her a exhausted smile "That sounds nice... Do you think he could tell me a story to me before I sleep?" She quickly replied "Ask him and I'm sure he will. He just woke up so talking could get his brain moving." He gave her another hug "Ok Clem." He then walked off to the room.

Clem left the admin building without a plan for what to do today.

The tired boy weakly opens the door to their room. Louis who was sitting on the edge of the bed in deep thought jumped. "Woah little dude! You scared me." AJ chuckles at the boy "Scaredy pants." They exchange chuckles. Louis witnesses Clementine's kid crawl into his bed and lay face-ward toward Louis. "Tired little dude?" The little boy lazily answers "Yeah." A yawn follows his statement. "I'll be out in a minute and leave you to your dreams." Louis stands up to prepare to leave but the little one stops him. "Hey Louis?" "Yeah?" The freckles faced boy replies. "Could you tell me a story to sleep to?" The proposal made a grin form on Louis' face. "Who told you about my stunning storytelling abilities?" Hearing of his abilities the little one grows a little excited "You're a good storyteller?" " I'm only the greatest." Louis tugs on his jacket. The little one's brow furrows "But Clem said that she was the greatest storyteller." "She hasn't heard any of my story's. Trust me AJ this story I'm about to tell you will be the greatest story you've ever heard." The little one intrigued attentively listens to the older boy.

Louis grabs the chair from the desk beside AJ's bunk and sits it in front the little boy. "Now before I tell you this AJ... I want to ask you something." The little one's brow furrows again "What is it?" Louis twiddles with his thumbs briefly " Do you think I'd be a good idea to make a grave for Lee? For Clementine of course?" The little one is confused "Why?" Louis panders "We both know how much he meant to her so I thought that giving him a proper resting place for Clem to go talk to him would be nice for her." "But he's dead. How would she talk to him?" The little one innocently states. "I thought you knew?" Louis asks the boy with a stupid grin on his face. "Know what?" AJ answers obviously confused. "That Clementine has superpowers." The little one chuckles "Yeah she told me she did." They both chuckle to one another "So do you think she'd like it?" The little one mulled for a minute "Yeah." Hearing Clementine's most trusted and closest relative give him the green light made him excited to do something meaningful for her. "Alright little dude. You ready for the greatest story to ever be told?" The little one yawns "Yes." The older boy sits his chin on his hand and thinks about a story. It then hit him, he was going to tell AJ his favorite movie that he seen when he was a kid. "Alright, I got it." The older boy clears his throat and while doing this AJ gets himself comfortable in his bed. "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."

"Clementine!" A low voice cried for her name behind one of the pillars to her left. She realizes it's Ruby and cautiously walks to her. "What is it?" Ruby seemed more stressed than usual "Vi and Minnie came outside and are out in the graveyard." Clem gives her a long face "I'll keep myself distant." Ruby caught a glimpse of Vi and Minnie moving around in the graveyard "That's probably for the best." The redhead tells Clem.

Minnie is examining the graves of Marlon and Brody while Violet is sitting with her knees hugging against her chest beside her. "Goddamn it's hot as shit. Why did we come out here again?" Vi shows extreme discomfort to the idea of being around the others, especially Clementine. Minnie squints her eyes "I told you that I wanted us to get some fresh air for a change." Vi quickly comes to a solution "Yeah but it's hot as shit and we could had just opened a window." Minnie's face formed a menacing expression. Violet took note _I wish she'd tell me why we are really out here _the blonde girl thinks to herself.

"After slicing his hand off the dark lord told Luke. No I am your father." AJ's snoring broke Louis out of his story. _How long has he been asleep?_ Louis had gotten so passionate with the story that he zoned out into his own little world. _Well my job here is done. _Louis leans over to Clementine's boy and places a kiss on his forehead "Happy dreams little dude." He whispers into the room. Louis stands his ground and quietly moves the chair back to the desk. He then tip-toes out the room. _I guess I could make Lee's grave._ He takes a secret passage in the school that takes him to where he buried Grace.

He stands up from his crouching position to the resting place of Grace. The sun is beating on his neck. The location is a secluded part of the school that only he and Marlon knew about. "Hey Grace." The boy whispers as he looks at her grave. He picks up the shovel that is leaning on the brick wall and finds a spot for Lee. He starts digging. He dug a small hole that allowed for belongings to be placed in it. He walked over to the plank that he used to make Grace's cross and he made one for Lee. Louis gets his survival knife out to carve into the wood. He carves **Lee **underneath that he continues **Beloved father of Clementine**. He walks over to the hole in the ground and spikes the cross into the ground making it stand on its own. He stands back up and admires his work "Perfect." He whispers. He then got the idea to write a note to put into the hole. He patted himself down but couldn't find anything to write on or with. He looked around and found a pencil next to a pile of paper that lay beside a bunch of construction equipment. _Perfect. _He write's **I know that I've never met you and you've never met me, my name is Louis. I wanted to thank you for everything you did for Clementine. I've heard and seen the impact you've had on her and you've inspired me to be that same kind of person for her. I know that I can never ask for your permission for her hand but I promise that I won't hurt her and I'll protect her and the boy with everything ****in me****. Thank you for giving me her and thank you for your sacrifice. Your's truly, the piano boy Louis.** He walks back to the hole in the ground and places the note in the hole and covers it. He then makes another note for AJ to tell him how to get to the gravesite if he wanted to check it out before Clem did. He folded the paper and placed it into his trench coat and goes to the little boy's room.

Once at the room he opens the door to find AJ still sound asleep. He silently walks to AJ's coloring box and places the note inside of it. _Clem won't look inside of his box._ He didn't want Clementine to see it before AJ got to. Satisfied he walks out of the room and makes his way to the courtyard.

Clem is walking to the gate. She was planning to meet with James and get a report on any herds that could hit the school or are close to the school, but she is dragged to the side by Aasim. "Hey Clem, I wanted to talk about our food situation." The brown haired girl responds with "How are we doing?" "We are actually fine at the moment, but we will have to talk about what to do for winter." The tall boy tells her. "We'll talk about it in a little. I want to see James and see if there are any herds on the way." The taller boy nods his head but stops her from leaving "And Clem?" "Yes." She replies. "Do you think Ruby likes me?" His face shows blatant nervousness but a smile forms on the girls face. "I don't know Aasim, but I did see the poster the kids made for you and I think she will be flattered when you show it to her." A timid half smile forms on his flushed face "Thanks Clem." She nods at him and departs from him.

Louis opens the doors to the admin building making contact with the fresh air once again. He spots Clementine by the gate talking to Willy. He decides to see if she would like for him to join her.

"Hey Willy I'm going out to see James." Willy peers out from his watch post "Ok Clem." He then adds "How long do you think you'll be out?" She then hears footsteps behind her and sees Louis. That warm feeling inside her fills her once again. "I won't be out for long." She replies. Willy nods and resumes his post.

"You mind if I join you?" He bows to her. "I don't mind Lou." She gives him her compassionate eyes. She then spots Vi on the corner of her eye talking to Minnie. "Actually Lou. Could you go with me to talk with them." She motions her head towards the girls. He looks at them and gives his attention back to the girl "Yeah, I'll go with you." She quickly smiles and they make their way towards them.

Minnie sees Clem in the open arena heading towards her and Vi. The rage starts to fill inside her. Her vision starts to get spotty and blackish.

Minnie turns away from Vi and speed walks in Clem's direction. Vi sees Minnie stomp off "Minnie. Minnie. Minnie!" She loudly whispers to the girl. She is completely gone, her anger has hijacked her body and she has one goal to achomplish. The blonde follows her in Clem's direction.

Clementine sees the anger in the redheads face and prepares for her outburst. "She's not happy Lou." Louis who is studying the redheads every move replies "It'll pass." She tries to believe him but she knows that Minnie might never stop hating her.

Lou notices that Minnie's movement becomes more agressive as she approaches Clem. "Hey Minnie." He hears Clementine say. Minnie gives no response but continues her aggressive advance. Louis saw the distress in Vi's face. He begins to worry what is going threw Minnie's head.

Clementine speaks to the girl who is around 30 yards away "I wanted to check on you guys."

"Minnie. Minnie. Minnie!" The distressed Violet loudly whispers to the redhead trying to calm her but she is ignored. She tries pulling on her shoulder but Minnie continues her advance.

They are now 15 yards apart "What's the matter Minnie?" Louis asks the girl. She gives no answer along with Violet who was just as concerned.

They are now a few feet away and Clementine braces herself for whatever storm of words were about to come out of Minnie's mouth.

Minnie quickly unsheathes her hunting knife and raises it above her head to strike the girl dead.

Clementine was unarmed and was unprepared to protect herself. Louis upon seeing the blade instinctively shoulder shoves Clementine to the ground causing her to severely sprain her ankle falling to the ground. He takes her place with his.

Minnie slashes at Louis who she thinks is Clem. She cuts a straight deep line from the lining of his right eyebrow to the left end of his chest. "AAAHHH!" He screams in pain from the laceration. Blood began to gush out of his face and chest. He cries for her to stop "MINNIE IT'S ME!" Her blinding rage doesn't allow her to realize it. She stabs him at the belly button line and she strikes him again in the same spot. She then goes for a third but the blood on the knife makes it slip out of her hand when she pulls it out of his gut.

Louis falls to one knee and the girl without hesitation jumps on top of him and starts to beat his face in with all her weight.

Clementine in extreme pain tries to crawl to help the defenseless Louis. "LOUIS!" Violet observes in disbelief of what she's witnessing. Aasim who was talking to Willy heard to cries and runs to them.

Minnie unconsciously grabs a decently sized rock that lay next to the boy's body and she strikes him in the head with it with tremendous force. It knocks the boy unconscious. Aasim violently tackles the girl off of the bloody and battered boy. "HELP ME!" Aasim screams for help to detain the girl.

Clementine tries to get to her feet but upon putting weight on her foot she falls to the ground in pain.

Willy comes running to Aasim's aid. "What the fuck happened!" Willy exclaimed as he pummeled his body onto the struggling girl. Louis' clothes are stained in his blood and a pool begins to cover the ground around him.

Clementine crawls to the boy's body. His breathing is becoming weaker and his chest is barley moving. "Someone get Ruby!" Clementine yells into the air. Rose takes off into the admin building following her masters command.

Clementine holds the unconscious boy in her arms. His face is beaten to a pulp and is covered in a red hue.

Violet was still frozen from shock "Vi help us!" Aasim yells to the blonde. Minnie throws every bit of energy she has to harm the people around her. Vi jumps on top of the redhead "Fucking stop Minnie!" "She won't fucking quit!" Aasim yells. Willy gets off of the girl and punts her in the face with his boot. She eats the first one but the boy throws kick after kick and knocks her out. She slumps and Willy smashes his boot into her face once more. "Fucking bitch!" Willy yells at the unconscious girl.

"Willy get Ruby." Aasim commands the boy and he takes off. Aasim grabs some rope and carries the girl off to the basement to tie her up.

"I'm right here Lou." Clementine's voice was brittle and broken. "Please don't leave me." She whispers into his ear. Vi gets on her knees and applies pressure to his stomach wounds. "Put some pressure on that one and I'll put some in this one." The blonde tells the brown haired girl. Clementine complies and they put pressure on the wounds to limit blood loss.

Ruby busts out of the admin building and spots the girls tending to the boy. "Holy fucking shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit." Ruby whispers to herself approaching the dying boy. Aasim comes running out of the basement and goes to the group. "Get him inside and I'll work on him." Ruby tells the boys as she runs inside to prepare for his aid. Aasim and Willy nod to each other and tear Louis from Clem's grasps and rush him inside the admin building, Violet follows them. Clem sits on the ground covered in her partners blood.

She can't bring herself to standup. Her ankle sprain comes in violent waves. Her body begins to shake uncontrollably. It all happened to fast for her to completely realize what happened. She sits in the ground painted in red and she stares at the pool of blood left from his dying body.

**_Lou?_**

**I hope you guys enjoyed my little Star Wars reference. This is not the end of the story. So stay tuned. Also there will be some very graphic and sensitive descriptions in a scene in the next episode. That scene is not for everyone so I will put a footnote telling you to skip if you don't want to read it, I personally wanted to put it into this story because it further develops the characters but I understand that not everyone likes it so THERE IS YOUR WARNING.**


	5. Scars For The Future

"Clem! Clem!" The teenage mother looks at her boy. The boy runs to her side and she kneels to his level. "What is it goofball?" AJ lifts his drawing to reveal a scene of himself, her, and Louis at a riverbed fishing. "You like it." His voice filled with joy. Clementine's face gleams with his excitement "You're getting real good at this AJ." The boy's already toothy grin was fueled by her remark.

AJ hears the door to their room creek. Both him and Clementine look at the door to be met by a overzealous Louis. "Louis!" The boy yelps. Louis motions down his hands like he was calming a crowd "You guys are too generous." AJ watches the smiling boy walk over to his guardian and give her a welcoming hug. While hugging her Louis looks over at the small boy and motions him in "You to little dude." AJ runs and embraces both of them. They hold each other for what seemed for eternity.

AJ then hears Louis' once bouncy voice grow cold and sad "I'll miss you guys." _What? _AJ disengages from the hug and looks up the the older boy. He is petrified with what he saw. Louis was now covered in blood. He had a massive cut from the lining of his right eyebrow to the center of his jawline. His once green shirt was now dark red with the chest portion of the shirt ripped from a cut that seemed to follow from his jaw. The lower part of his shirt had two cuts exposing his red stomach. Louis' body slumps over and crashes to the wooden floor panels. AJ fumbles on his feet and falls on his ass terrified.

Louis' glassy eyes fixed on the boy. AJ stares at them. Clementine rushes to his side and screams "LOUIS!"

AJ jolts awake from the nightmare. His body is hot and he is sticky from his sweat. "Somebody get Ruby!" The boy hears a distress call from outside. AJ quickly jumps out of bed and puts his boots on. While doing this he can hear the disturbed voices of his friends outside in panic. He fumbles with the laces _Fuck me _he tells himself with his fidgety fingers. His nerves get the best of him and he can't properly tie his shoes. _Fuck it. _He leaves the other boot untied and runs to his coloring box. His shaky hands open the box and he grabs his gun. He sees a piece of paper inside. It read **For AJ**. The boy grabs it and shoves it into his back pocket and loads his gun.

The panic outside is too much for the boy. As he is putting the bullets into the revolver some of the bullets are just falling out of his hand and hitting the ground. He ignored the abandoned bullets and runs towards the main hall with only half a clip loaded.

AJ pushes the door open bringing him to the main entrance of the school. Aasim and Willy burst through the double doors leading to the courtyard with a dying Louis in their arms. "Fuck! He's slipping out of my hands!" Willy states. _Louis?_ The little boy is in disbelief. "Louis!" AJ runs over to the boys who are stumbling all over the place trying to get Louis up the stairs. "Stop dropping him Willy!" Willy shoots a menacing face at Aasim "I'm not trying to!" As soon as Willy says that Aasim slips on some of the blood that is on the steps from the boy's body. Aasim busts his ass and hits his head on a step. "Fuck!" Aasim yells into the room. Half of Louis' body falls on top of fallen boy who acted as a cushion. "Get the fuck up!" Willy frantically tells the older boy. Aasim scrambles to his feet with the boy in his arms and they continue up the stairs.

AJ hears Ruby yell from above "Bring him in Marlon's office." He sees the boy's disappear and the footsteps above him are fast and unpredictable. He hears the door slam and muffled voices fill the school.

The double doors open again and this time it is Violet. AJ has never seen her so petrified "What the fuck happened." The boy asks the blonde girl. "AJ." The girl jogs to him and kneels beside him. She puts her bloody hand on his shoulder "Go talk to Clem... she needs it." The boy doesn't understand "Where is she and what's happening!" The blonde wasn't paying him much mind but was looking at the bloody trail that leads to the voices and footsteps. "Just go talk to Clem." She disembarks from him and runs upstairs.

"Where do you want him?" Aasim asks the redhead. Ruby jogs to Marlons desk and with one swift motion shoves everything off. "Put him on the desk." Her voice is shaky and nervous. The struggling boy's lay Louis' unconscious body on the table. Ruby is going through her medical supplies. "Fuck... umm... what do you need us to do?" Aasim pacing back and forth asks her. Willy starts to apply pressure in the boy's gut wounds. Ruby rushes to Louis' body and examined his wounds. _Fuck his stomach needs stitching. _She looks at the boy's upper body _Okay she didn't cut anything important on his face or chest. _She then looks at his bleeding forehead, _he might be in a coma. She hit his frontal lobe. His brain could swell and kill him, I can't help him if he's got major brain damage. We won't know if there is anything wrong until he wakes up... if he wakes up. _"Okay. Okay... you two clean his face and chest." "His face and chest wounds aren't lethal, but they will leave a massive scar. I need to work on his stomach." Aasim and Willy quickly begin cleaning the boy's face and chest with wet rags.

AJ rushes out the double doors into the blinding rays of the sun. He scans his surroundings and spots Clementine on the ground staring at the stained earth. "C-Clem!" The boy jumps down the steps and runs to her side. She seems to be in a state of shock. "Clem. W-What happened." She gives no response but instead is staring at her red hands.

"I saw them taking Louis upstairs. WHAT HAPPENED!" The boy's voice starts to crack. The girl comes back to her senses and looks at her boy. "We gotta get insid- AAAHHH!" She falls back down holding to her ankle. AJ kneels beside her "Here." The boy grabs her arm and throws it over his shoulders. He holds her up allowing her to hop along with him. They start their way to the admin building. Clementine groans in pain with every hop. AJ keeping his face forward asks her "Clem just tell me what happened." He looks up at her face for a moment and catches a tear drop from her cheek. "I'll tell you when we get inside." He nods and they continue.

AJ opens the door and holds it allowing the injured girl to enter with him. They are welcomed with frantic footsteps and muffled voices from above. "Where did they take him?" "Upstairs to Marlon's office." The boy states. He sits her down on a bench to their right. She winces and holds her ankle. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." She loudly whispers to herself. AJ sits beside her "Tell me what happened." She looks at him defeated "He- he pushed me out of the way, and..." she pauses choking up "Minnie attacked him... attacked him because she thought he was me." AJ's blood boiled and he became monstrous. "Where. Is. She." Without thinking she tells him "In the basement." AJ stands up and embraces his broken mother "I'll be back." He states. His voice was stern and bold. He walks away from her with his fist clenched. As he opens the door he takes his pistol out of his back pocket and leaves.

"Hey Hey Hey!" Ruby starts to tap on Louis' face. She was checking his pulse and there was nothing there. "Louis. Come on now. Give me something." She successfully stitched his wounds but he lost a tremendous amount of blood. _She didn't cut anything vital, it has to be the blood. _She starts to give him CPR to start his heart again. Aasim and Willy step back from the deceased boy. "Holy shit." Aasim whispers to himself. Ruby begins to grunt shoving her hands on the boy's heart. Violet who stood next to Aasim whispers "Louis?" Clementine hears loud grunting upstairs from The redhead. "Come on Lou!" The redhead begs the boy. Hearing the news made Clem think of all the times she would lay and listen to his heartbeat as she'd fall into her dreams. And now it is gone. The girl starts to crawl towards the steps to the others.

The pain in her left ankle was unbearable. Every small move and it would send some of the strongest impulses of pain she has ever felt. She continued her painful journey up the stairs while hearing the grunts of the redhead.

"Give me a pulse please Lou!" Ruby yells frantically to Louis' corpse to come back. Every step Clem climbed made her relive a moment they had from each other. From the first dorky comment he said to the first time they kissed. She continues her climb with tears of grief and pain flowing down her cheeks.

Ruby pushes harder and harder into his chest while the others watch.

She pushes her ear against his chest to find a beat but nothing is there. She pushes her hands into his chest thirty more times just like Ms. Martin taught her. She then gave two breaths into his mouth and placed her ear on his chest.

**Thump Thump**  
"YES!" She hugs onto Louis' neck "Thank you god." Ruby let out a cry of victory. Clementine crawled into the room seeing everyone hugging each other elated to hear the 'good' news.

Clem has never seen so much blood from one person. He was covered in his own. Ruby looked like red paint had been thrown on her. Aasim and Willy pat Louis on his chest "I'm going to see Minnie." Aasim claims. "Yeah. Me too." Willy's replies filled with anger. They both walk with each other and leave the girls with the vulnerable boy. Ruby takes her gloves off which were red, she doesn't even remember what color they where when she put them on. The redhead sat next to the table where she operated on Louis.

Vi goes to the injured Clementine and helps her to her feet. "Shit!" "Owe!" The brown haired girl screeches when she accidentally put pressure on her foot. "Do we have crutches or something?" Vi looks at the redhead. "Yeah there are some in the room next door." Vi nods her head and helps Clementine to a chair. When she sits down the blonde goes to retrieve the crutches.

"He's alive Clem." Clementine Looks at the stressed girl who is palming her face. "Help me up Ruby. I want to see him." Ruby looks up at the girl and looks back down. "Okay." The girl replies. Ruby stands up and travels to the girl. She pulls her arm over her shoulders and guides her to the boy's body. She lets go of the girl and Clem holds most of her weight on her hands and her right foot. "Here." Ruby says as she pulls up a chair next to the table. Clementine sits and examines the boy.

The left side of his face was purple and his left eye was swollen shut. The right side of his face was scratched from his head bouncing off of the dirt and gravel. It also revealed the stitches across his face from the blade. She sees his head wound had been stitched and was bandaged. The bandage covers most of his forehead and is wrapped around his hair. She moves her eyes down to the boy's exposed chest. She moves her hands to touch the stitches that go across the left side of his chest. She then looks at his lower stomach which also had two places stitched. _I'm sorry._

"I know... it's a lot of stitches." The redhead says. She moves next to the curly haired girl and looks at his body with her. "You know he di-died." Hearing those words made both of them choke up. Ruby points to his individual wounds "I stopped the bleeding. She didn't cut anything vital but he bled a lot." "But." Ruby quickly adds. The redhead pauses trying to find how she's going to say it. Clementine looks at the girl with extreme distress "But what?" Clem became more worried that there was a catch. "She beat his face pretty bad... the head wound..." the redhead points at it "She fractured his skull..." Clementine quickly tries to stand to examine his wound but is quickly reminded of her ankle injury. "Owe!" She holds to her ankle. She shoots her face towards the redhead "How is a fractured skull suppose to heal?" The redhead looks at both the boy and the girl "It'll heal on its own... but, if she caused too much damage, his brain could swell and kill him within the next day or so..." "He could be in a coma, he could simply be unconscious, I don't know how long he'll be out and I don't know if he'll still be Louis if he wakes up." While looking at the boy Clem says to the girl "What do you mean he won't be Louis?" Her voice is sad but there is anger in it. She clenches her fists in a ball so tight that her once copper skin is now white. "Well... she struck his frontal lobe which Ms. Martin told me controls motor skills, so he could have trouble controlling his body. But his head hit the ground multiple times so it's possible that she damaged others parts. He could lose memory, speech, his personality, or possibly everything that makes him Louis." A tear drops from Ruby's face. "I'm sorry, I need a moment." The redhead goes outside the room.

AJ opens the metal doors that lead to the basement. It was dark and cold. He made his jouney into the dark to meet with the girl. "Who's down here? Why am I down here?" He hears the girl pleading deep inside of the basement. He follows the voice. "Please just tell me who's in here." The panic in her voice is obvious. AJ reveals himself to the girl. "Get me out of here!" AJ stares at the girl without an answer. "Please just tell me why I'm down here." The girl frantically asks. AJ walks away from her and grabs a chair. While doing this Minnie starts to violently shake and twist her hands trying to set herself free. He pulls the chair towards the girl. The chair makes a loud screeching sound as it slides across the concrete. He sits down and stares at the girl. "Why is there blood on me?" AJ doesn't respond. "AJ untie me." His brow furrows "Untie you?" She nods her head in confusion "Yes. I don't know why I'm down here." AJ pulls his revolver out of his pants and starts to spin the cylinder that holds the bullets. "You know why you're down here." The boy tells her. "What are you talking about... just get me out of here." She starts to wiggle again but the rope won't give in. She stops to watch the little boy. AJ takes all the bullets out of the revolver and puts all but one in his front pocket. He shows the girl the bullet. "You see this Minnie?" The girl doesn't have to look at it to know what it was "Yes it's a bullet, now get me out of here." AJ shakes his head in disapproval "No. it's not just a bullet." An evil and powerful grin forms on his face. The girl stares at him getting a little uncomfortable. "Sometimes this 'bullet' is your friend, and sometimes it's not. Do you think it's your friend?" He asks her, he then opens the revolvers cylinder and puts the bullet in it. He spins it a couple of times and pulls the hammer back. "AJ!?" "You tried to kill Clem!" He paces back and forth aggressively "You tried to kill her but Louis saved her from you! And now he's dead or dying!" He shakes with anger "What! I would never hurt Louis!" Hearing her denial only makes him more angry. "YES YOU DID!" "NO I DIDN'T!" He points at her bloody hands "Then why is there blood on you!?" The girl scans her body not knowing why she's covered in it. _I wouldn't do that to him_ she tells herself. "SAY SOMETHING!" The boy's frustration and anger is rapidly going uncontrollable. "FUCK YOU! I WOULDN'T DO THAT!" The girl yells at him. The boy grits his teeth. "LIAR!" He pulls the gun up to the girl's head and pulls the trigger.

**Click**  
The girl's breathing is abnormal and uneasy. Sweat drips from her chin hearing the clicking sound with the boy still standing over her barrel to her face. He puts the gun back in his pants. Seeing the gun go in his pocket gives the girl relief _He just tried to kill me._ The afro boy gets on one knee and with a devilish voices tell the redhead "My way would have been less painful for you..." The dervish grin comes back on his face "Just wait until Clem sees you." He stands up staring down at the girl. She weeps to herself in terror. "AAAHHH!" AJ slams his boot down on her knee, which makes a thud when it hits the concrete floor. The boy hears the voices of Aasim and Willy making their way down the stairs. "I'm going to fucking kill her." Willy tells the taller boy. "No you're not." Aasim puts him in his place. Both AJ and Minnie look in the direction of the voices. AJ turns to the girl "See you soon." She looks at the boy terrified by what he'll do when he comes back. As he disappears Aasim and Willy come around the corner.

Clem looks at her protectors face. His face winces to every gasp for air. His breathing is raspy and wheezy. She caresses her hand on his battered face "Just get some rest Lou." She whispers to his body. She has always loved the boy but now seeing the lengths he would go for her gifted her with an indescribable feeling inside of her. She gently plays with his hair. Feeling his coarse dreadlocks gave her some happiness. _I wish I could make this up to you Lou._ Vi opens the door carrying a pair of wooden crutches. "Here you go Clem." The blonde hands them to her. "mmh." Clem says trying to put them under her armpits. "They're a little tall." The blonde kneels and adjusts the height on them. "Better?" They now fit perfectly underneath her armpits. "Yeah. Thank you Vi." The blonde gives her a guilt-ridden smile and walks to the door. "I'll give you some time with him." She goes outside to her room.

Ruby re-enters the room and walks to the couple. "Hey Clem... you might want to get cleaned up." "I'll watch over him while you do." The brown haired girl with her eyes stressed on the boy's wounds replies with "No... I'll get cleaned up in bit." The girl then looks at Ruby "You get cleaned Ruby." The redhead examines her clothes which are a mixture of her light yellow shirt and the boy's blood. "Yeah... I'll come up here when I'm done." When the girl gets to the door she is stopped by Clementine's voice "And Ruby..." the girl swivels her head towards Clem "Yeah?" "Thank you." Ruby nods her head and walks out the room to get cleaned.

Clem watches the door behind the redhead close, leaving her with her protector once again alone. Clem lays her crutches on the floor next to her chair and she sits down. She lays her head against his chest to listen to his heartbeat, she was praying to hear the same rhythm she grew to love from when they lay in bed together trying to sleep. His heart beats in normal rhythm but it was weak, panic would strike her in between some beats because she couldn't hear or feel the pulse. His heart whispers into her ear.

With her head on his stitched chest she rubs her right hand through his dreadlocks "Please be in there Louis." His unconscious body remains motionless.

The door creeks behind her revealing her little boy. A smile grows on her face. The boy keeps his distance from the body. "Is Louis ok?" The boy asks her. She lies to him "Yeah he's going to be fine." She wants to believe that too but she knows that he probably won't. Hearing what she says, the little one walks to her side to examine the boy himself. The boy gently touches the stitched stomach. "He doesn't look so good Clem." He starts to doubt what she said. "Ruby said that he'll be out for some time. We don't know when he'll wake up." The girl reassures him. The boy looks at his mother "You don't have to lie Clem." She sets her eyes on the floor and her face becomes long. The little one regrets making her feel worse. He hugs onto his mothers shoulders. His arms barley go around her petite structure. She leans her head on the boy and hugs him back. Without breaking their embrace the boy tells her "If you think he'll be fine, then so do I." He hears her snot into his shirt.

Ruby enters the room all clean. "Alright. I'll watch over Lou, you two get cleaned up." AJ grabs him mother's small hands and helps her get under her crutches "Lets go to the showers Clem." The girl looks at Louis once more, she then goes with AJ.

AJ and his teenage mother enter their room. AJ runs to the closet to grab himself a new pair of clothes. Clementine sits down giving her ankle some rest. She watches her little boy. "Could you grab me some of my clothes AJ?" She didn't want to move around anymore. Her ankle was killing her. The boy glances at her and quickly answers "Yeah." AJ lays his new pair of clothes on his bed and begins to get his mother's. "What do you want to wear Clem?" He looks at her small collection of clothes. "umm..." The girl leans forward to get a look inside the closet "Get me that grey shirt and those blue jeans." The boy nods and retrieves her request. He lays her clothes on her bed and smiles. He then noticed something was off. He rushes back to the closet and finds what she was missing. He innocently asks her "Don't you need these Clem?" He pulls out a grey sports bra and some grey underwear. Her face gets hot and her cheeks turn pink. "Uh... Yeah." She nervously tells him. He innocently takes them to her and lays it beside her stuff. AJ goes to their dresser that lays center of the room and opens the third drawer. He grabs a towel for himself and Clementine. He grabs his clothes and wraps them inside of his towel making it easier to tow around. Clem gets off the bed with her crutches under her arms. AJ does the same towel technique with his mother's clothes. "You ready Clem?" She nods to him. "Right behind you goofball." He looks back at her "Clem!" She retracts her statement "I meant AJ." They begin their journey to the showers.

Ruby checks Louis' pulse again. "Alright Lou." His pulse is still present. The redhead grabs some extra bandages and begins to wrap his chest and torso wounds. When she finishes, his lower abdomen from his waist line to his center stomach is wrapped in bandages. She made a diagonal line with the bandages from his right shoulder to his left peck that wrapped around his back. She steps back and admires her work.

The showers are a new addition to the school. Willy and Aasim made a little hut behind the school and used the water from the creek to run the system. The hut had two rooms so two people could shower at once. Willy told Clementine how it works. He told her that you put water into a big bucket that is above the rooms that run into a makeshift faucet in both the rooms. They boosted the platform so they could make a drainage system underneath.

Clementine enters her part of the hut. "If you need any help Clem just ask me." AJ told her from the other room. "I will." She replies. She struggles to take her clothes off because of her ankle. "Hey AJ." The boy was about to take his pants off. "Yes?" "Could you get me something to sit on?" The boy puts his shirt back on. "Yeah." AJ runs outside to find her something. She stands in silence for a moment until she hears AJ's grunts approaching her curtain door. AJ enters the room with a decently sized log that he found laying next to a pile of construction equipment. "Here Clem." He plops it down overtop the drain. "Thanks AJ." The boy gives her a toothy smile and he runs back to his part of the hut to shower.

Clementine sits down on the log and removes her clothing. After removing her long sleeve shirt and bra she begins to remove her boots. She hears AJ's faucet turn and the fat water droplets flop onto the floor. She removes the boot on her healthy ankle first, once it was off she stared at the other boot_. This is going to fucking suck. _She unties the boot. She pants for air in anticipation "Okay Clementine. It's only a little ankle sprain. Nothing to bad." She tries to rip it off quickly like a bandaid but instantly regrets it. "AAAHHH!" She falls off the log. She slams her fist into the wood beneath her. "Clem! Are you okay!?" AJ asks her in panic. With deep pain in her voice she replies "I'm fine AJ!" The boy resumes his shower but becomes more attentive to the noises he hears next door. The boot was halfway off her foot. She held onto her ankle. "Alright Clementine. Just a little bit further." She rips it off quickly again. She groans in immense pain to herself. "Fuck!" She loudly whispers to herself.

Now with the boot off she examines her ankle. It's swollen to the size of an decently sized orange. The color also changed, her ankle was now a blueish purple. While on the ground she cautiously touches the tender tendons. _I'll get Ruby to take a look when we're done._ She carefully sits herself back on the log. Now that her boots are off she takes the rest of her clothes off. She leans her naked body forward to turn the faucet. "Holy Fuck! That's cold!" She loudly tells herself. Goosebumps form on her brown skin.

She sits in the cold fluid for some time watching her loved ones blood flow off her skin. She can't help but to think about him. She couldn't help but to think of his dorky smile he'd give her when he tries to make her laugh with one of his corny jokes. Or all the times he'd give AJ his food when she knew that he was just as hungry. She thought about the dance they had with each other the night before, longing for more of those memories with him. A tear threatens to break through until she rubs her wet hands on her eyes fighting them back inside.

AJ turns the water off. _Showers are so awesome! _The boy grabs his towel and begins to dry himself up. He grabs his new attire. It consists of an old Ericson Boarding School, school pride shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Tenn gave him all of his old clothes to AJ, so the little boy now had a decent little collection of clothes. After putting everything on he grabs his old pants and hears a crunch. _What's that? _the boy thinks to himself stifled. He squeezes the pants again and hears the crunching sound again. He finds that it came from his back pocket. The boy squeezes his fingers into the pocket and pulls out a crumbled piece of paper. He flattens it out on his hand and it reads **For AJ**. The boy stuffs it into his back pocket. _I'll read before I go to bed._ He walks out of his curtain door. He could hear the water hitting the floor in his mother's room. "Need any help Clem?" The boy asks her worried.

The young teenage girl is brought out of her thoughts hearing the little one's voice. "No... I'm fine, I'll be out in a minute." The boy nods to himself "Ok. I'll be out waiting." With goosebumps still present on her skin she begins to scrub herself to get all of the muck out of her hair and skin. After a minute or so she is satisfied. Clem leans her expose body forward and turns the faucet, turning the water off. She helps herself off the log using it as balance. She hops on one foot to her towel and clothes. With mild complications she ends up getting her new clothes on making her feel refreshed.

"AJ could you get my clothes?" The boy peers his head through the entrance to the hut. "Yeah." AJ runs inside and grabs her stuff. "I'll put these in our room." The boy tells the older girl. She looks down at him "I'll be upstairs... See me before you go to sleep?" The boy looks into her eyes. He sees pain, a pain he hasn't seen in her before. "You know I will Clem." His words gifted her exhausted face with a smile. The boy hugs her side. "I love you." She takes one hand off of her crutch and holds him tight "I love you more." AJ peels himself off her and darts to their room.

Clementine opens the door to Marlon's office. She's met by Violet who is hunched over Louis' body. "Oh... Hey Clem." Seeing the brown hair girl enter the room made her feel embarrassed. "I was just... uhh..." "Talking to him?" Clementine finishes her sentence. The blonde cast her face down on him "Yeah..." Clem rows her way to the unconscious boy. "Yeah... I do it to." She looks the blonde in the eyes which makes Vi uncomfortable "I-I'll go help the boys with Minnie." Hearing that girl's name makes Clem's teeth grind. Vi begins her way to the door but is then stopped by Clementine's embrace. "Still friends?" The brown haired girl asks her with her arms wrapped around the blonde. "Friends." Vi returns the embrace. They separate and Vi leaves the room.

"Hey AJ!" Aasim calls with the sun beating down on his neck AJ turns his head towards the much taller boy "Yeah?" "You wanna help me hunt?" Aasim asks bow in hand. AJ eyes the metal doors that holds the girl that tried to kill Clementine. _I'll deal with her later. _"Could you teach me how to shoot the bow?" Aasim looks down at his bow "If you come with me I will." AJ shakes with excitement "Let's go!"

"Heya Clem." Ruby says while entering Marlon's office. Clem who was sitting down next to her protector turns to the redhead "Hey Ruby." Ruby walks over to the couple "I'm checking his pulse." She puts her two fingers on his wrist and pushes down. Ruby's face enlightens, she pats Lou on the chest "Still with us big guy." "Could you take a look at my ankle?" The brown skin girl asks. Ruby walks over to her "Sure." _Holy shit I got to take the boot off again. _Ruby kneels down examining her boot. "Alright Clem, I'm not going to lie. This is going to really going to hurt." _No shit. _"Ok... I'm going to count to three." Clem takes in deep breaths in anticipation "1..." _Holy shit this is going to hurt._ "2..." _Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck. _"3!" Ruby rips the boot off causing the girl to squill in pain. Clem's fist slams on her thigh trying to exert the pain out of her ankle.

Ruby examines the sprain. "mmm..." The redhead moves it a couple of times which makes Clem jerk. "I don't think it's broke. The tendons are just very tender at the moment." Elated that her foot wasn't broke Clem then asks her "How long until it heals?" Ruby looks at it once again "A couple of weeks. You should be able to walk on it in the next day or so, if not then it's broke." Clem exhales "Thank you Ruby." Ruby smiles and nods at her. "Well I have lookout duty. See you later Clem." They wave each other goodbye. "Also Clem, make sure you elevate that foot, and I'm going to get a different pair of shoes for you so you don't have to put the boot back on." Clem nods and the redhead disappears.

AJ yawns "Man I'm tired." Him and Aasim caught three bunnies in the hours they were out. "Yeah me too." Aasim replies with a yawn. AJ hands the taller boy the bunny he was carrying "Night Aasim." "Night AJ." They go their separate ways.

AJ makes it to their room but doesn't see Clem. "Clem?" He asks the void room. _She's probably upstairs. _AJ grabs his coloring box and heads for Marlon's office.

AJ enters to find Clementine's head and arms draped on Louis' chest. AJ approaches her "Clem?" He quietly asks her. He looks at her face. _She's asleep. _The boy decides to leave her alone. He lands behind her and opens his coloring box. _I'll draw for a bit before I sleep._ As he sits a familiar crunching sound fills his ears again. _The note._ AJ grabs it and opens it. It took some time for him to decipher but when he figured out what it said he became excited. The note gave AJ directions on how to get to Lee's gravesite. Instinctively he wanted to wake Clem to show her but he didn't want her to feel worse than she already did. _I'll show her tomorrow._ He slides the note back in his pants and begins to draw.

Clementine opens her eyes and is welcomed with the murmurs of the boy's heart. She carefully lifts her arms and head off Louis' bandaged chest. She examines his face but a firm hand lands on her shoulder. The girl hears a voice she hasn't heard in years "I didn't think he had it in him." She timidly turns her head towards the voice "K-Kenny?" The large man laughs hearing her voice. "Man did I miss that voice." Clem quickly stands on her one foot and embraces the bearded man nearly knocking him over. She begins to weep into his shirt with joy "Woah there, no reason to get all snotty." "I missed you." Her muffled voice replies from his lower chest. "I missed you too Clementine." Still in embrace Clem states "I wish Lee was here too." Kenny laughs "Well you'd be surprised." He motions the girl to look behind her.

Another large figure stands next to the unconscious boy looking down at him. "He's a nice kid." The deep thunderous voice of Lee states. "Lee!" She starts to hop his way, until she loses her balance but is caught by Kenny. "Hold it there. I'll help you to him." He wraps his left arm around her back underneath her armpit. She wraps her right arm around his back clinging to his right side. With Kenny's support she makes her way to the large man.

Lee examines the boy's wounds, he pats the boy on his chest "Well... he wasn't lying to me." Lee says firmly looking at the boy. As he finishes his sentence Clem embraces his large figure. "Lying about what?" The girl asks him. He looks down at her face realizing that she hasn't seen **It** yet. He quickly changes the subject "Oh... nothing... you'll find out soon."

"That girl really put a beatin' on him." Kenny catches Clem's attention. He was looking at all of the bruises and bandages on Louis' body. Kenny draws his attention to his battered face, particularly at his eye. "mmm..." He gently rubs his thumb on the boy's eye "Looks just like my eye when that fucking asshole Carver got done with me." Clem walks away from Lee and takes a seat next to Louis, visually disturbed. "What's the matter Clem." Lee asks even though he knows why she's upset.

Kenny stands next to the slightly taller man. A then low, defeated voice replies to the man. "I'm scared Lee." She looks at the boy when she finishes her sentence. "Scared about what?" Lee continues to probe. She shakes her head a couple of times trying to control her emotions. "I-I'm scared that h-he won't wake up." Lee quickly counters her "That's not why you're scared." _How does he always know what I'm thinking._ He places his hand on her shoulder and looks at the boy with her "Why are you really scared?"

Clem's throat tightens not wanting to say it. "W-what if... what if he's not Louis when he wakes up?" Hearing this, Lee walks over to the boy and points at him "Look at what he's put himself through... for you." Clem takes another look at his motionless corpse. "Does it really matter if he's not the same? There would still be that person he once was deep down in there... the same person that went through this for you." Clementine sniffs into her hands. She wipes off a few rouge tears that broke through her eyes. "I'll tell you. I thought the kid was a shitbird at first, but he proved my hardass wrong." Kenny's comment made Lee laugh "Yeah you should have seen Kenny's face when you started to fall for him. I thought a vein was going to burst in his neck." Kenny laughs so hard he about tumbles over. Hearing their laughter brings a rare smile to the girls face. Kenny composes himself and becomes serious "Don't give up on him Clem." Clementine nods her head "I won't... I can't..."

Lee and Kenny nod to one another. In synchronization they embrace Clementine one final time. "We'll see you again soon." Lee tells her. They both move over to Louis and pat him on the chest. "Goodbye Lee." The girl watches them merge with the shadows and disappear.

"Clem." AJ lightly shakes her. "Clem." He says a little louder. Clementine awakes with her head and arms still draped over Louis. "It's noon Clem." She carefully lifts herself off the boy. She rubs her eyes with her small hands. "Can you walk on your foot?" AJ asks. She twists it a couple of times testing its tenderness. "I'm not to sure." "Give it a try." He motions her up. "I'll be here if you start to fall." The boy opens his arms ready to catch his mother if she can't indeed walk. "Okay." She takes in a couple of deep breaths and pulls herself up. She grunts in discomfort but she's able to stand on her own. "Try to walk." The boy politely asks. Clem steps out with her bad ankle and puts all of her weight on it. Her knee buckles from the pain causing her to limp. The boy believed she was going to fall to he puts his hands under her elbows. She takes a couple more small limping steps. "Hey you can walk!" His face full of optimism. "Yeah I can. It still hurts but I can walk." She slowly limps her way back to the chair and sits.

AJ grabs the note from Louis out of his back pocket. _She's going to be so excited._ The boy walks over to her and hands her the note. She takes the note from his hand "What's this?" A toothy grin forms on AJ's face. "Read it." He points to the note.

Clementine reads the front of the note **For AJ**. She unfold the paper revealing its contents. Her brow furrows as she begins reading. **Hey AJ it's Louis. So I made that thing that we talked about before you went to sleep. If you want to check it out before Clem this is how you find it. Outside of our room there is a barrier to the right of the door. Go over that barrier and take a left at the end of the hallway. Go to the end of that hallway and take a right, then go straight until you make it to the third door on the left. Go inside the door. There will be a bookcase, push it and it will reveal a hole. Crouch through the hole and you will find what we talked about. If you're reading this Clem and you don't like what you find just tell me and I'll take it down. I don't want it to hurt you, I thought that you'd like it. Your's truly Louis.**

Clementine takes her eyes off the paper to AJ who is jumping in excitement "Louis made this?" "Yeah." The boy quickly answers. She cocks her head to the boy on the table then back to the note. "You went there?" "Well... no I wanted to see it with you." She carefully stands up, AJ quickly gets in position to catch her if she need it. "When did he do this?" AJ casts his head down knowing his answer will upset her "Yesterday." He was right it did upset her a bit knowing that he made something special for her and now he can't be there to show her. _What did Lou make for me?_ She begins limp her way to the location described in the note "Well lets take a look." AJ follows behind her.

AJ opens the door described in the note. Both he and Clem look inside the damp room. "It's dark in there Clem." The boy says cautiously. They both peer their head inside the room and get a better look. "Clem there's the bookcase!" The boy points at the rotting wood. The bookcase was maybe a quarter of the way filled. Clem limps inside the room, knife in hand. "Help me move it." The girl says.

The room was dark at the entrance but the holes in the ceiling allowed the rays of the sun to trickle in further inside. "You ready AJ?" Clem gets on the left side while AJ gets the right. "I'll pull, you push." The boy tells her. He didn't want her to lift the bookcase with her ankle. "Alright... 1... 2... 3!" AJ lifts with all of his strength. He's able to get the wooden structure off the ground. "It's-It's up C-Clem." The girl pushes the frame with all the power she can muster in her arms and right foot. They both grunt as the heavy structure slides across the floor.

AJ releases his grip. "I don't know how Louis moves that thing." AJ questions while panting for air. Clem begins to go through the hole. AJ follows. In a matter of seconds the once dark and mysterious hole becomes bright as it leads them outside. The hot rays hit the back of Clementine's neck. The area was secluded from the rest of the school. It seemed as if someone had made a barrier to keep it hidden from everyone. It was decently sized, around ten yards by ten yards. The outside was covered in brush and a wicked looking fence barrier. Clem continues to scan the mysterious place. "Clem! This is it!" AJ exclaims from around the corner. The girl limps to her little one's voice. He runs around the corner and leads her to it.

She goes around the corner and is flabbergasted by what she saw. Two little graves lay side by side. The one on the right read **Grace**. The one on the left took her breath. **Lee**, it read on the top. Beneath it said **Beloved father of Clementine**. Tearing up She limps her petite body towards the grave. She kneels down in front of it. AJ nervously tells her "He wanted to make this for you." He could hear her runny nose. He notices a white thing slightly pointing out of the grave "What's that Clem." He points his finger at the mysterious object. Silently Clementine pulls the white object out of the grave. It was a note. The wrinkly piece of paper read **Lee **on the top. She unfolds it and begins to read it. AJ sneaks his head overtop her shoulder to read along with her.

**I know that I've never met you and you've never met me, my name is Louis. **Clem's throat shrinks to the size of a pea as she reads. **I wanted to thank you for everything you did for Clementine. I've heard and seen the impact you've had on her and you've inspired me to be that same kind of person for her. **Her puppy dog eyes continues to study the paper. A deep wave of heartache began to penetrate her chest. **I know that I can never ask for your permission for her hand but I promise that I won't hurt her and I'll protect her and the boy with everything in me. **A tear finally drips from her soft cheek. **Thank you for giving me her and thank you for your sacrifice. Your's truly, the piano boy Louis. **Louis' ending words make her sadly giggle to herself. Even in her deepest sadness he still finds a way to make her chuckle. _Always finds a way to make me laugh._ She sniffs her nose and wipes her eyes with her long sleeve.

Shortly after, AJ finishes the note. He became confused and angry. _That shouldn't have happened to him._ _Why would this happen to him?_ He didn't understand why someone as nice and innocent deserved what happened to him. _Just you wait... Minnie. _He was going to get her back. He doesn't want to kill her, he wants to make her feel pain. A pain unimaginable, he wants to hear her beg him to stop. He wants to see terror in her eyes.

He is brought out of his deep state of anguish with the sound of Clem's grunting as she gets back to her feet. He hastily gets himself prepared for her fall. She wobbled for a moment but catches herself. "I'm going upstairs to rest." AJ begins in follow her but is stopped by his mother "Could you go play with Tenn, I'm sure he could use a friend right now." He doesn't want to leave her while she's recovering but he wanted her to be happy "Yeah Clem. I will." A weak smile forms on her face "Thanks goofball." Although the name made him mentally cringe, he knew that it would only upset Clem to correct her. They both part to their separate paths.

Clementine enters the resting place of her protector. It's been a full day since he almost met his maker. She wanted to get her weight off her ankle. _Goddamn my ankle._ Her limping body slowly makes its way to the chair beside the boy. A deep sign of relief escapes her mouth as she takes a seat. She scoots the chair up closer to the boy so she can talk to him. "Hey Lou." Her voice low and monologue. All she wanted was to hear his is bouncy voice once more. She lay her head on his chest to find a heartbeat. A burst of excitement hit her noticing the pulse had gotten slightly stronger from the day before. She lifts her head off the boy. "I'll clean you up." His face and chest were still covered in his own dried up blood.

Clem exits the room and finds the materials she needs. It didn't take her too long because most of it was in Ruby's medical room. She re-enters Marlon's office. She sits the bucket of water on the floor next to the table. Then she dips a rag into the water and wrings it out. Clem gently starts to dab and rub the dried up substance off his body. After a time she begins to clean his face which is still purple and black. "I'll make it up to you Lou... I don't know how, but I will." Guilt consumes her soul. Finished cleaning him she takes a step back to examine her work. She noticed his pants were engulfed by the dried substance. _I'll get him a new pair from our room._

A couple of minutes later Clem re-enters the office. The curly haired teen lays the new pair of jeans on the chair. She moves her hands to his belt. The teen unbuckles and unbuttons his pants. With mild complications she gets them off of him and puts the new pair on. "Looking better Lou." The teen tells the motionless boy. She takes a seat. The youth drapes her head and arms over the boy and closes her eyes.

"Hey Clem." Aasim says as he enters the office. His voice wakes the girl up. "Oh... sorry, didn't know you were asleep." "No it's fine, what's up." The brown skin girl groggily replies. Aasim takes a couple more steps to her and asks "What are we going to do to with Minnie. She keeps denying what she did... and I don't know what we should do." Clem sits herself up off of Louis. With her teeth grinding together "Keep her down there... I'll deal with her when he wakes up." "She's too dangerous to keep here Clem." He pleads to her. "She doesn't believe us, then Louis will show her." Her hostile voice replies. Aasim nods to her and begins to leave "And Aasim..." he stops to hear her "Tell her." She pauses "She better hope he wakes up." He nods and leaves the room.

**Later that night**

AJ sneaks his way to the basement with his revolver. As he enters the damp dim lighted cellar he is welcomed by the chilling sound of Minnie's voice, loudly humming to herself. He silently walks his way around the corner to meet the girl.

The redhead spots him but keeps humming to herself. In an aggressive voice AJ demands "Tell me why you did it." She ignores his demands and continues her song. He gets eye level with her and penetrates his eyes into hers. "Don't ignore me." He says with his teeth clenched. She did the opposite of what he said not to do and continued. AJ angrily nods his head and stands up. He spots a metal pipe across the room and retrieves it. As he disappears the redhead continues to hum her melody. **Thump!** A loud crack broke the air. AJ smashes the metal pipe on her knee. It bounces off of the concrete. A squill escapes her mouth before the boy covers her mouth with his hand and tapes it shut. "Shut the fuck up." He tells her. AJ stands overtop of her again patting the pipe on his hand.

**Thump!** He smashes it on her other knee with all his force. The redhead yells into the thick layer of tape with tears flowing out her eyes. "I don't know why you're yelling. No one can hear you." She tries to wiggle herself free but **Thump! **He smashes the pipe on her right ankle. He was hoping to break her ankle. Yelling, the girl squirms from the pain, trying desperately to hold onto her ankle. "Eye for an eye." He tells her. He throws the pipe aside and walks back to bed. "Don't EVER ignore me EVER again Minnie." He tells the crying girl as he leaves.

"Hey goofball where ya been." Clem groggily asks him sitting at her chair. AJ takes a seat next to his coloring box and begins to draw "Seeing if Willy needed help on watch tonight." His innocent, lying voice replies. "Guess he didn't need any?" His mother asks. "Nope." He replies. AJ continues to draw while Clem lays back with her ankle elevated on the table.

AJ breaks the silence "Could I maybe... Sleep next to you tonight?" "Of course." She quickly replies. Clem stands up and looks around the room. "Help me get the couch outside the room in here." He nods and helps her.

They place the couch a couple of feet across from Louis. Clem lays down and pats a spot next to her. "A fresh spot just for you." AJ excitedly takes his spot next to her. She cuddles up with him like she did when he was just a baby. "Night AJ." "Night Clem."

**Three weeks later**

The past three weeks for Clem and AJ has slowly gotten better. Clem has attentively kept tab on Louis seeing his body greatly improve. His heartbeat is almost just like she remembers before the attack. Her ankle has almost completely recovered. She's now able to move around without pain. She's able to help the school again, by day she's helping everyone gather supply's and at night she spends time with AJ and the unconscious Louis.

AJ got Tenn to accept that Minnie is no longer his sister. He has also been tormenting the redhead every couple of nights. He has mostly helped Clem and kept an eye on Louis while he was on patrol.

Ruby removed Louis' stitches a couple of days ago, leaving him with scar tissue on his face, chest, and lower abdomen. His once swollen face is now back to normal. Aasim and Willy moved Louis' body to Clem's room about a week ago, so they didn't have to keep sleeping on the couch in Marlon's office.

Vi has grown distant with Minnie and believes she is a lost cause. She helped convince Tenn that she was no longer the Minnie they had. Vi and Clem's relationship has grown back to before she was taken by the raiders. Vi has also helped keep tab on Louis if AJ and Clem where too busy helping to protect the school. She feels guilty for allowing this to happen to the couple.

Clem woke up in AJ's bed cold. _He must've woke up before me._

Across from her is the healing Louis.

The light skin girl moves to the edge of AJ's bed and warms her knees up. _I'm going to be a fucking cripple before I'm twenty. _Her knees cringe together causing her some solemn pain. After a short minute she gets herself up and walks to Louis who is still unconscious. She fell awe to his face. _Why are freckles so cute on him._ For the first time in her life she believes she has found her soulmate. She couldn't comprehend what life would be like without him, which is the same feeling that she gets with AJ.

The teen bends over and caresses his face before giving him a kiss on the forehead. "Come back to me." Her low tone voice breaks the silence. The youth plays with his hair briefly and decides to start the day. _Guess I can help Aasim with Minnie. And I can go hunt with Vi if she's up for it._ Clem walks to the old wooden door and opens it. Before she leaves she tells Louis "See you tonight." The youth then departs from the room.

The mother spots her son walking down their hallway.

"AJ." He turns and strolls to his mom "Every round you make can you check on Louis?" He was on patrol so they both knew that his route circles their room. He likes when Clem trusts him to do something "You know I will." He embraces his guardian "He'll be fine Clem... Also can I stay with Tenn tonight?" She nodded her head "Promise me you two won't get into trouble." He gave her a grin "Promise."

"Hey Aasim!" Clem tells from across the courtyard. The tall boy was talking to his new girlfriend Ruby. He showed her the poster about a week ago, she slapped him but the redhead gave him a kiss after that. Clem can see him start to move from Ruby but she grabs his hand and gives him a kiss on the cheek. He sheepishly smiles and rubs the back of his neck awkwardly as he walks towards the brown skin girl.

"You ready to do this?" He asks the smaller teen. She nods her head and they walk towards the cellar which hold Minnie. As they walk down the concrete steps a faint humming can be heard deep inside the cellar. "She's getting crazier by the day." Aasim says. "She broke her ankle a couple of weeks back but she won't tell me how that happened." He quickly adds "She let Ruby help her, but she just mumbled to herself." He tells her disturbed. "How do you think she'll react to me?" The curly haired girl asks him. "Not very well." He replies disappointingly.

Before they turn the corner Aasim grabs a bat just incase she goes completely psycho. "You ready?" He asks her. "Yeah." She replies.

They turn the corner to be met by Minnie who is sitting on the ground talking to herself. Aasim walks to her first. Clem notes Minnie's wrists are bruised from struggling too much. "I have someone I want you to see Minnie." He motions the brown haired youth toward himself. "It's Clem." He solemnly tells her.

Hearing the name she goes completely crazy. She squirms, yells, shakes, pulls everything around her to set herself free. Clem takes a step back along with Aasim who is petrified. "I told you Clem... she's completely gone." "Let's get out of here." He adds disappointed.

On AJ's seventh trip around the premises he goes inside their room to check on Louis. He is inside the room for fifteen minutes but for him it felt like eternity. He escapes the room with the brightest face, he jumps up and down with excitement but quickly controls himself as he begins to continue his patrol.

"Hey Vi, you wanna go hunt with me?" Clem asks. The blonde who was watching Tenn draw shoots her head up "Yeah... that sounds like fun." Her voice was low as usual but it had some enthusiasm behind it.

**Four hours later**

_Louis is such a lucky guy _Vi thinks to herself. The blonde is carrying three rabbits in her right hand and is toating a basket full of raspberries in the other. They found a whole pile of them all growing next to each other. Vi examines the brown haired teen in front of her. _She's so pretty... I wish I had someone who cared about me as much as she does for Lou. I'm happy for him, he deserves someone like her._ "You good Vi?" The angelic voice of Clementine snaps her out of her deep thought. "Y-Yeah I'm fine." Sounding uncertain. Clem's brow furrows and she slows down her pace for Vi to catch up to her. "You don't sound so fine." She looks into the blondes eyes every couple of feet. Clem's sun-like eyes give the blonde a weird felling in her chest and her heartbeat hastens. While awkwardly looking into the curly haired teens eyes and shooting them back down to the ground she replies "N-no... seriously I-I'm fine Clem." A silence fills the air before Clem reassures her "Okay Vi... but you don't have to be, you can always talk to me." Clem gives her a toothy smile and Vi smiles to herself. "Okay Clem."

**Two hours later**

The day was pretty rough on Clem. Louis would always find a way into her head no matter what she did.

The teen found AJ to say goodnight to him, he was in Tenn's room.

She opens the door with a giddy AJ talking with more energy than he usually does. "Clem!" He began to laugh with joy seeing her. "Hey kiddo." She tries to match his energy but failed. He gave her the tightest hug he could muster. "Woah... what's with you tonight?" She asks curious of why he's so energetic. His lying tongue replies "No reason." "Okay well, I wanted to say goodnight before I go to bed." His face somehow got even brighter hearing those words, if that was even possible. "Okay Clem. I love you!" She smiles walking to the door "Love you more." The door shuts. "What was that about?" The scared face boy asks his friend. "You wouldn't believe it Tenn." AJ goes to the boy's ear and tells him what he knows, he didn't want Clem to hear if she was still outside the door. When AJ finishes Tenn excitedly face replies "Really!?"

She retired to her room to tend to the unconscious boy and have some time to herself. She was a little upset that AJ wouldn't be with her tonight, she grew fond of having someone next to her when sleeping. Of course Louis was the one to make her feel that way. While humming to herself she opens the door nonchalantly. She turned towards the door and closed the and closes it. She twirls her body around and what she sees makes her believe she is in a dream. Louis' scared body was sitting on the edge of their bed, his scared face studying her every move. She swore her heart stopped beating for a minute. _How?! What!? How long has he been awake!?_? His aurora made her stomach churn.

"Lou?" Her voice cracks and a tear comes down her cheek. His chocolate brown eyes never left her. A beaming smile broke his cheeks. "Looks like I have some cool battle-scars now." He chuckles to her. She joyfully chuckles with him.

They didn't speak to one another but kept their eye contact. He was still shirtless which reveals all the scars which he received from Minnie. The scars gave the girl butterflies every time she looks or touches them. Her love for him is uncanny.

He painfully stands his ground. He towers over the girl. He looks down to her while she looks up to him. With only a couple of feet between them they bore into each other's souls. "Have you gotten more beautiful?" He asks her with only inches separating their faces. She embraces him and weeps into his shoulder. "I missed you... so much." Her choppy voice tells the taller boy. He wraps his arms around her exerting the warmth of his body onto her. "I missed you more." She loses most of her strength and her knees begin to buckle. "I'm fine Clem." He sits down with her still weeping from joy in his possession. After a few more minutes her body gives out and she passes out on his chest he slowly lays himself down without waking her. He now has her positioned with her head and arm on his chest. He covers her with the blanket and leans his head back. _Something feels off._ He opens and closes his hands but something about them just doesn't feel right. He shakes it off and enjoys having Clementine around again. He closes his eyes and falls asleep.

Clem awakes before Louis. She sits herself up on the bed wondering if what she saw yesterday was a dream. She pokes the boy "Louis wake up." The movement and voice of the girl wakes the young man up. The teenage girl hugs his neck in relief. As she hugs him a tingly feeling hits the boy and he glares off at the ceiling. Clem disengages to look at the boy's face which is stoic at the ceiling "Louis?" Her bouncy voice asks him. She becomes more worried as he doesn't answer her and continues to stare off. "Louis?" Her voice is more sincere. She moves closer to him and his body begins to slightly shake. She starts to get really worried. "Louis? Hey what's wrong." He becomes responsive again but his confused. He swivels his head back and forth disoriented.

He is snapped out of his confused state when he sees the girls face. His face becomes bright "Morning Clem." A gleaming smile covers his scared face. Confused she asks him "What just happened?" His brow furrows not understanding what she's talking about. "What'd you mean?" She shakes it off and gives him another loving hug. _I'll ask Ruby about it later._ "You're drowning me with hugs." He playfully says. She lifts herself a couple of inches off of his chest and plunges her lips onto his. She releases an intimate moan as she deepens into his lips. His body relaxes with the contact of her lips. Some strains of her curly brown hair fall onto his face. She gently pushes off his chest allowing each other to catch their breath. She could feel the power of his heart thumping wildly, Her's met the same power. She crawled over him and motioned him up. "Come on. I'm sure the other want to see you." He slowly lifts himself up. Louis starts to walk clumsily. _Something doesn't feel right._ He moves his arms and legs around but he can't quite understand what was wrong. Clem didn't notice him experiment with himself as she was grabbing her jacket and grabbing him a shirt. "Here Lou." She hold hers hands out holding a grey shirt. He goes to grab the shirt but he couldn't seem to find the shirt with his arms. _What's wrong with me?_ He keeps it to himself as he's just happy to see Clementine so enthused.

She helps him pull the shirt over his bandaged body. He grunts with discomfort "I'm not hurting you, am I?" Clem asks cautiously. He quickly reassures her with his soft eyes "No. it's just the scars." He scans his new attire but Clem draws his face back to her "I'm sorry... for what happened." He gives her a hug "I would do it a thousand times over." His remark made her feel more in-debt than she already did.

Clem gathered everyone into the music room. "What is it you want to show us Clem?" Aasim asks her, he was scared of leaving Minnie unattended. "This." She creeps toward the entrance door and opens it revealing a conscious Louis. Everybody jumped in joy and ran to give the boy a hug. The boy's patted Louis on the back and even gave him a hug.

Vi and Louis made eye contact and they both wept into each other happy to see one another. "I missed you Louis." Vi whispers into him. "I missed you Vi." He rubs her back.

"Hey Ruby?" Clem drags the redhead to the side to ask her about this morning. "Yeah, Clem?" Ruby response confused. "So this morning... I woke Lou up and he kind of zoned out... he wasn't saying anything and he started to shake." Ruby frowned Hearing the news "H-He might be more prone to seizures, that's probably what you saw this morning. I'll read on it when I leave here." Clem looks down full of guilt. "Don't beat yourself over it Clem... I told you his brain injuries could do something like this... if he shows any other awkward behavior let me know." Clem nod and goes to Louis.

**Three hours later**

Everyone has went back to their posts leaving Clem and Louis alone in the music room.

"How about some music m'lady." He bows but almost trips over himself. _What the fuck is wrong._ She grabs his hand "I'd like that." She walks with him to the piano. They both sit down and he stares at the keys. He starts to get a little scared. _I can't control my body._ He opens and closes his hands a couple of times trying to understand what was going on. Clem notices his experiments. "What's wrong Lou?" He quickly stops "Nothing... you ready?" He gives her a cheeky smile, which she returns. He nervously tries to play a song but he can't hit the right notes. He shakes his head and starts over but he makes the same mistakes. _What the fuck._ Clem's brow furrows seeing him struggle with something that came so naturally for him.

He seeks her help. He stares at his fingers "Clem... I-uh-Something doesn't feel right." She examines his fingers with him but doesn't understand "What do you mean?" He shows her his hands "I don't- I don't know." He was really starting to get worried. He stands up and almost trips over himself again. "It's not just in my hands... its in my legs and arms." She stands up with him and escorts him to Ruby. "Let's ask Ruby." She nervously tells him.

They find Ruby in the courtyard, the redhead tells Louis of his seizure's which doesn't seem to faze him, the couple then explain what's happening with Louis' body. Ruby gets more upset hearing the side affect of his brain injury. "I-I'm sorry Lou." Both his and Clem's faces become confused. "You probably lost some of your motor skills from the head injury." Louis begins to laugh out of sorrow "I can- I can get it back right." He says tearfully. "You can improve it... but-uh-but it'll never be how it once was... you might never get to play again Lou." His face becomes long and he tries to laugh it off but the tears coming down his face tell a different story. Clem takes him away. Ruby pulls her aside "Clem I read on what seizures can do to the male body." "What did it say." Ruby's throat tightens slightly "Well... traumatic brain injuries can cause epilepsy, which means that he will have seizures pretty often... he's probably had multiple while he's been unconscious... I hope you weren't planning on having a kid with him in the future because he could be infertile." Clem becomes sad that she couldn't ever have a kid with Louis even if she they both wanted one in the future. "Thank you Ruby." Clem rejoins Louis and tells him the news which makes him even more upset. They continue their path to the admin building but Clem stops him at the double doors outside the school "I'll help you play again Louis, I promise." Her voice made him happier but he was still sad. They continued to their room.

"Louis!" AJ exclaimed running down the hallway. Louis got on one knee clumsily and held his arms out. AJ embraces the lanky boy's invitation. "I missed you little dude." AJ leaned his head on the much bigger boy "I missed you too." AJ turn his body to his mother "Can I stay with Tenn again?" "Of course kiddo, but remember..." AJ interrupts her "Don't Get into any trouble. I won't Clem." Louis chuckles. He runs off to Tenn's room while the couple make their way to theirs.

Louis depressingly walks into their room with Clem trailing behind him. She felt sick for everything he's going through just because he sacrificed himself for her. _He has seizures, scars, he can't have children, and he can't do what makes him happiest._ She grabs his hand and turns his groggy face to hers. "I really am sorry Lou." He isn't mad at her, he's just upset that everything he looks forward to has been taken away from him. A hurt smile grows on his face meeting her soft eyes "Don't be sorry... this was worth keeping you safe." Her stomach churned hearing him say that. She looked down in guilt but made her way back to his pained eyes.

She closes the distance between them with a kiss on the lips. Their lips separate but they lean their heads on one another. She moves her body closer to his, and gives him a more compassionate prolonged kiss which makes his tense body relax. Their lips part "I love you... you know that." She whispers to him. "Not as much as I love you." He replies. She moves his hands to her waist and gives him another deep kiss. She gets on her tiptoes to get better leverage on his lips.

They twirl around as she presses her body onto his. Both of their hearts could be heard in a silent room. Their lips part and their star-struck eyes bore into each other. _I'll make it up to him._ She gifts him another kiss and uses it to back him up to the bed. With her lips on his he sits down on the bed and she sits on his lap.

Louis snaps out of his lustful state believing this is going to far. He gently breaks away from her lips "What are you doing Clem?" Her face flushes from embarrassment "I want to show that I love you." He shakes his head puzzled "I know that you love me." She gives him her compassionate eyes which made his heart skip a beat. His eyes and face scar gave her an itch in her body. "No... you gave me your body... let me give you mine."

His brow furrows from what she said. His face then opens up realizing what she is suggesting. "You don't have to do that to prove anything." She tells him "Take your shirt off and let me show you something." He does as she asks. The girl traces her fingers over his scars from his stomach to his face. "You gave up everything for me." She pauses "Let me do the same." Her puppy dog face came closer to the attentive boy. She whispers to him "I am yours and you are mine." While still on his lap she makes contact with his lips once again. He moves his hands further down her waist lightly gripping her butt. He could feel a smirk overcome her face as presses her lips on his.

She grabs his hands and stands up. She puts his hands on his lap.

**WARNING! This part is not for everyone. If you are not into SMUT/LEMONS skip till the next bold text. You have been warned.**

She takes a step back but never leaves his eyes. _She's so beautiful. _She travels her hands to her jacket and begins to unzip it "Clem you don't have to do this." He doesn't want her to feel like she owes him anything. She took her jacket off "I know... but I want to." He sat and watched in awe of her beauty. She unbuttoned her shirt and slowly rose it over her head revealing her grey sports bra. Her face flushed again allow him to see her without a shirt. Louis stayed seated battling himself whether or not he should stop her. She moved her hands to her pants and starts to unbutton them "Clem?" He deepens as far inside her eyes as he can. She gifts him with the most beautiful smile which makes him hush. She slowly pulls her pants down leaving herself with just her bra and underwear.

The scarred boy stares at her body. Underneath his breath he whispers "You're so beautiful." His soft remark only fuels her feelings for him. She creeps towards him and lays him on his back. She sits her nearly naked body overtop the boy's waist. She engages his lips, he moves from her mouth and kisses her on her neck, a soft moan escapes her. She feels herself getting wet, she didn't fully understand what she was doing or what was happening to her body but she didn't want it to stop "I love you Lou."

He continues to kiss her neck. She raises herself up depriving him of his moment "You don't have to do anything." His brow furrowed. She glides her body down to his lower half to unbuckle his pants. _Holy shit Louis... is this actually happening._ He isn't sure how to feel. He wants to please her but he doesn't want to hurt her in any way. He helps her remove his pants.

His face grew ruby red as she witnesses his boner shooting through his underwear. She doesn't seem to notice since she still had her eyes fixed on his chocolate brown iris'. Crawled back to his lap and engages in another passionate kiss. Which he starts to show more interest as he brought her closer to him.

She was happy to already have him excited as his member rubs against her thigh as their kisses became more intimate. She pushes herself off the boy again. She started to pull her her bra off. Upon seeing her bear breast Louis became speechless. He looks at her as if she were a goddess. She chuckles at his awe and pulls her underwear down revealing herself to him. She got on her knees and started to take his underwear off _Louis what are you doing, STOP HER._ before he stops her. "Clem... I love you I really do, but is this what you really want." She projects her face to the boy. Her beautiful curly hair has always been treasured by the boy. "You trust me don't you Lou." Her face scrunches. He nods "With everything in me." She then grabs the lining of his underwear "Then trust me." Her voice only aroused him more.

Most of his attention was on her face. He couldn't get over how beautiful she was. He scans her body for the first time. Her breast had a small cup to them. She was surprisingly more fit than he originally thought. She had a slightly visible six pack. Her thighs touch each other. She stood over him with her naked body, while he sits naked. Both of them unsure what they should do next.

He decides he will take the initiative. As he rises from the bed he got a sharp pain in his gut causing him to wince in pain and his recovering body flops back on the bed.

Her heart sank to see him in anymore pain "Just lay down... I've seen you in enough pain." He tries to get up again but she lays him down with her body "Please... Let me do this for you." Her gentle skin makes his heart ache. She sits on his hips. He places his left hand on her brown cheek and runs his right hand through her hair. He chuckles to himself "I told you I wouldn't let it happen." A smile cracks through his weak body. A single tear broke through her right eye "I know you did." Her shaky voice answered.

He wipes the tear away "Please don't cry." Even though both of them are completely naked they haven't paid much attention to their naked bodies. She brings her face closer, with it follows the heat from his bare body. He kisses her and she returns the favor. He then moves to her neck. She becomes more intimate.

He places his hands on her naked hips. He feels her hip bone. He's never been so gentle, afraid of hurting her he glides his limbs around her tight body. He can feel her heartbeat rise when he touches her. She can feel his member on the back of her left buttcheek.

She pushes him off of her neck and he lay flat on his back "We might never get to give each other this ever again." Her voice has never sounded like this before, it was different. He saw her pupils widen, she glides her hand down his chest. She can feel the scars from the knife he shielded her from. She continues her hands to his groin. He quickly grabs her hand "Are you sure you want this?" His concerned eyes still locked to hers. She gently grabbed his hand and lays it back down "I trust you. Can you trust me?" His throat tightens to her resonse. His concerned eyes never leaving hers, she continues her journey to his groin.

She touches his penis with her hand. She feels his heartbeat rise and his breathing becomes short and sparadic. Her silky hands on his groin makes his mind race. She moves his penis to to her vaginal area.

They never break eye contact. His eyes are filled with concern while hers are filled with affection. She lifts her hips up she places his member at her entrance.

She pushes her hips down as far as she can and he goes inside of her. A pinching pain consumes her but is replace with a pleasing sensation. She moans into his chest. He makes a slightly louder moan into the room. Both of their eyes look as if fireworks have been set off. She lays her upper body flat on his chest. Her head only comes to the bottom of his jawline. She wraps her arms around him, with him still inside her "I love you... so much." He hears her fading, shaky voice call from below.

He didn't know what to think. Her body and insides radiates warmth onto him. She slowly moves her hips up and down. Both let out intimate moans. She lifts her upper body and places her hands on his chest. Her eyes are lost in his.

An unexplainable happiness overcame her knowing she's satisfying him. With every movement of her hips his eyes squint and he lets a quite voice escape. Both develop goosebumps on their skin from the sensation. She stops for a moment "I wouldn't be doing this is I didn't love you." She meant it. She has never had sex with anyone before, but she believes that he deserves to have her body, and she trusts him with her body.

Her hips move slightly faster, her breathing becomes short, her face changes with every stroke, her mouth is slightly ajar. He moves his right hand to her breast and his left to her face. She increases her speed slightly with his reaction. Her grunts and moans make his heart weak.

Her hair begins to get wet with her sweat. She slows down to a stop and rekindles her eyes to his "You're a part of my family now Lou." The words felt like a thirty pound brick bag had hit his chest. Her face was serious and honest. He brought her face towards his "And you are mine." Ending his words with a kiss to her lips.

Her heart melted at the response. Her tears hit is scars and follows their paths like a river. She moves her hips again.

He flips her to her side. She was caught off guard at his action "I said you didn't have to do anything." She didn't want to risk the chance of him hurting himself. Her tense face was calmed when he laid his hand on her face "I want to show how much I love you." She's stunned, he didn't want to do this in the first place.

He gently put himself back inside, her back turned to him but she was looking at him. Her face tightened and she closed her eyes. He stopped suddenly "I didn't hurt you. Did I?" His concern made her blush "Not even close." She gave him her most affectionate glare. He continues.

A minute passes when she notices his leg was tweaking. Louis' panting voice warns her "C-Clem... I ca-I don't know how much long—..." Remembering what Ruby said about his infertility, she turns her face and pulls him close meeting with a prolonged kiss she whispers "I don't mind Lou." Her voice was more serious this time but gentle to to keep him reassured. She notice him huff and puff, so she pushed her hips into his groin as far as she could. This caused herself and Louis to climax at the same time. Her exhausted body loosens.

**If you skipped SMUT/LEMON you can start to read here.**

He lay on his back and she move closer to him putting her head on his scarred chest. She hears his heart-rate slowly return to normal. He pulls the covers over both of them. Her naked body lay against his. He looks down to see her hair. He loves her curly hair. He ran his fingers threw it "You mean the world to me." His voice claims the room. Her heart became warmer to his comment. "I'll never hurt you." When his statement ended he looked at the ceiling. "I know you won't." Her voice makes his heartbeat rise for a second. She smiles at the thought and closes her eyes.

**Yeah I know they are both underage but that shouldn't mean anything. A 16 year old and a 17 year old doing stuff like this is extremely common, and saying it's not is a lie. The point of the SMUT scene was to finalize their commitment to one another. Also when Ruby says that Louis may be infertile, she may be correct or completely wrong.**


	6. Till Death Do Us Part

**UPDATED Author notes: Only taking a break, will continue the story. **

***Cluck-Ca-Cluck* *Cluck-Ca-Cluck***

"Woah there girl." Clementine brings her horse to a stop.

Embers of fire fill the forest air. Some of the sparkling pixels of heat pinch her malnourished cheeks. The young girl stares at the yellow gates of fire that consumes the complex. "AJ!" She whispers in panic to herself.

The entrance to the complex reads **Fort McCarroll**.

Eerie sounds of gunfire and explosions fill the young girl's ears. The front gate was split in a jagged line. The left half of the gate was being held in place from something on the other side while the right side is completely tumbled over leaving a massive hole to enter.

"Come on girl." She pats the horse on the neck and advances towards the Fort. They start to cross the war torn bridge that leads to the gate. "THERE'S ONE OF THEM!" A man screams from the ramparts above her. Clem shoots her face up and sees the man pointing an assault rifle at her. "Oh shit." She mumbles out to herself. She kicks the horse to move faster. The horse goes full throttle and the sounds of gun fire direct towards her. She hears the bullets whiz past her figure but then a cluster of the gunfire hits the horse causing it to flip forward dead. Clem flies off the horse and roughly lands inside the gates entrance.

**BAM BAM*****feminine screams* *masculine screams***

The blazing heat breaks the girl into a streaming sweet. She pushes her feet to get herself further inside the gate to avoid the bullets. She swivels her head in terror, scanning the furnace that consumes her. "Help me." A weak voice grabs her arm, pleading for assistance. Clem pulls her arm back and pushes herself away from the man.

He's trapped underneath a part of the gate. His entire left side is molten and has an orangish yellow glow to it. The skin on his face melts off the bone. "Please... kill me..."

**Boom!**

Clem quickly turns her head towards the bang. A group of people tumble over a door trying to escape the horrors from inside. Bullets fly out the door hitting some of the frantic people. Two men run out assault rifles in hand blasting the people away. "KILL THEM ALL!" The larger figure demands from his comrade. Clem stumbles to get behind cover, trying to avoid the men's view.

"Please don't kill us." A man pleads to the gunman. Multiple shots ring out and Clem hears the pitiful voices of men, women, and children scream for their final breath. The teen hears the monsters gut their victims out of pleasure. Clem's shaky hands unholster her pistol and brings it to her side.

"No... don't kill that one. I want to have some fun with her before she dies." The teen hears the sinister laugher from the monsters ahead. "NO! MY BABY BOY! GET OFF OF ME!" Clem turns her head peering the side of the flipped table. She witnesses a woman being pried from a motionless child and the monsters take her flailing body away. Clem takes a moment to compose her unsteady heart. _J-Just c-alm down, I-I just have to find AJ._ She takes in a couple of deep breaths with the fiery ash and restless screams in-circling her malnourished soul.

Clem takes her ground and timidly continues her quest to find her baby boy. The echo of gunshots ring throughout the structure. She comes up to where the men gunned down the helpless victims. She freezes in utter disgust and is haunted with the images of gutted children, men, and women. She spots an infant who's completely unrecognizable with it's face caved in revealing little brain pieces scattered all throughout the floor.

The teen painfully forces herself to go further into the Fort. She takes a corridor to her left and continues down the path. A door busts open revealing three medium sized men and a plump woman in hysteria. Clem hides in the shadows. "Kaya get the kids out of the infirmary. Meet us at the front gate. We've got to get them out of here." The plump woman nods her head and the three men run past Clem to the front gate. _AJ!_

The teen escapes the shadows and makes her way to the infirmary. Clem uses the fire emitting off the walls to guide her to her destination.

**Crash!**

Clem is tackled by a much larger man. "GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" He pins her to the ground trying to subdue the younger girl. "You're a pretty bitch! I'm going to fuck you raw!" The teen squirms her petite structure but the heavier man keeps her grounded. The ash hitting her face and the high pitch roaring of fire piercing her eardrums as she uses all her strength to get an arm free but to no avail. The man moves her left arm to his right hand and pins both her arms down with his hand. He uses his left arm to undue his zipper.

Clem spits in his eye and knees him in his nuts. He folds over holding his manhood. Clem unsheathes her knife and drives it into the mans back "AAAHHH!" She gets on top of his back and unleashes a flurry of strikes to his back and head. "FUCK YOU!" She screams as she continues her rampage onto his body. She turns him over and guts him out of pure rage. She stands and fiercely stomps on his manhood erupting his privates. His intestines cover the floor and his lower midsection, and white goo is splattered although out the floor. The younger girl's knees nearly buckle as she stands her bloody appearance up.

"PLEASE NOT THE CHILD!" A feminine voice yelps further down the corridor. Clem grabs her abandoned gun and rushes in panic of AJ being in there. Her red stained hands crack the door open. Two men tower over the plump woman she saw earlier. "Please... leave the child alone." The woman gets on her knees pleading for the men to show mercy. The bigger man of the two walks up to her and shotguns the woman in the face, causing her face to cave within itself. Her limp body tumbles over. The monsters laugh hysterically.

Clem draws her gun to the side of her face to take action. "Get the kid out and slit it's throat." The bigger man nonchalantly motions his comrade to the metal container holding a child. The smaller man bashes the cage open and grabs a screaming afro-haired boy dangling him in the air. "AJ!" Clem screeches and puts three rounds into the smaller man killing him. AJ hits the ground and the bigger man charges the girl knife in hand. She shoots him in the shoulder but he tackles her before she can get another shot off. He shoves the knife towards her chest, she catches his hands and repels them from her body. They both grunt as they try to out power one another. The knife gets closer and closer to her chest and the point presses on her skin. She twists and turns exerting as much pressure out of her little body as she can muster. "STOP squirming you little BITCH!" The man fiercely growls at the teen. "AJ!"

"Clementine!" The loud whisper of Louis swiftly leans to her side shaking the panic-struck girl. "Hey, hey, Clem wake up!" His voice a little louder. The naked girl's eyes open madly. She pushes herself away from the boy out of sheer terror. Louis watches as her exposed body sit knee to chest hugging herself. She whimpers to herself with tears breaking through her face. "Clem?" The soft voice of the naked boy slowly reaches his clumsy hand to her but she jerks from his grasp. He depressingly studies her suffering state.

It's still dark outside with only the moonlight to guide them.

The scarred faced boy slowly crawls his way to her, wanting to comfort the girl he's grown to love. He leans his back on the wall beside her to which she slightly turns herself away from him.

He takes a look at the back of the teens hair which is drenched in her own sweat. He examines her bare back and gently wraps his right arm around her right shoulder. He becomes exuberant that she didn't pull away from him this time. He pulls on her shoulder bringing her into his shoulder which she rests her head on his upper right peck. He rests his scarred cheek on top her head and wraps his other arm around her, giving the girl all his warmth. He sits there with the girl on his chest for some time hoping she'd calm down. His chest is wet from her strained eyes.

"It's alright Clem, you're safe." He passionately circles his fingers on her shoulder rubbing her skin. Her naked body continues to tremble on his.

A short minute passes and he starts to hum a soothing melody to the unstable girl. The vibrations from his chest gives the girl goosebumps. He starts to gently rock her back and forth to the melody. Her tense body starts to relax into his as he continues humming. She closes her teary eyes to listen to the heavenly tune. As he hums, he pulls the covers overtop her vulnerable body to protect her from the cold.

"It was the Ranch again... wasn't it?" He stops his melody and whispers into the void. A brief silence subdues the room before the young girl replies. She traces a finger over the scar on his left peck "It always is." Her voice shaky and serious. An acute smile overtook the boy's face hearing her voice. He then becomes serious again "I'm sorry that I can't protect you from your nightmares... if I could, I would." Her now relaxed but shook soul replies softly "I know."

He lifts his head off the girl's hair and he clumsy runs his fingers through it. "Get some sleep... I won't let anything bad happen." Although she is terrified of going back into that realm she feels safe in his arms so she did as he asked and closes her eyes on his chest. He allows her to rest her body on his against the wall.

Louis stays seated in that position for some time until he is certain that she's sleeping. In one fluid motion he lays the girl down with him. They now lay on their left sides. Her bare back faces the boy. Louis sneaks his right arm underneath her's and holds the top of her hand. He pulls himself closer into a tight spooning position exchanging his skin to her. "Night Clem." He whispers to the girl. Unannounced to him a tender smile forms on her lips. _Night Lou._

**Four hours later**

The rays of sunlight penetrate Clementine's eyes. Her weary eyes blink a couple of times to adjust to the bright corridor. She's wrapped together with the blankets and Louis' arms. She feels the slow beating of his heart on her back. She twists her head toward the young man behind her. "Lou!" She loudly whispers. She lightly shakes his shoulder to wake him. He moves and smacks his lips together but doesn't wake up. "Lou! It's time to get up!" She shakes him a little more vigorously. The boy awakes with her face projected to his. A dumb grin forms on his face "You get prettier every time I see you." The girl shakes her head "Oh I'm sure I do." She says sarcastically. Clem never believed she was an attractive person and she never believed Louis when he'd say things like this, but it did make her feel special that he at least thought she was. He props his left elbow on the bed to rest his head. "Yeah you do." He says with a smirk on his face. A hysterical grin overcomes her face "Is that why you were poking my butt this morning?" Louis' cheeks turn bright red and his eyes shoot although out the room. A nervous laugh comes out his mouth and he awkwardly rubs the back of his neck.

She giggles to his embarrassment. "I can't control that." He plainly states. "Oh I know... you made that clear." She tells him while giggling. A bright smile overcomes him hearing her enjoy herself.

He begins to feel strange so he lays on his back. "I'm not... feeling so great Clem." He tells her worryingly. A familiar tingly feeling overrides his body. She sits herself up not fully understanding what he means. "What's wrong?" She asks with him brow furrowing.

She peers at the scars on the boy's upper body. "Lou?" Her voice a little more concerned. She moves herself closer to him and his body begins to lightly shake. _Fuck he's having a seizure._ She gently picks up his upper half and hugs him in her breast. "I'm here Lou..." she gently rocks her body back and forth with him in her possession, hoping to bring him back. She lays her cheek on his forehead. "Come back to me..." she whispers to the boy. His body continues to regurgitate for a brief moment and he comes back.

His eyes look all around him confused. The girl still holds him tight in her breast. "W-Well isn't this a nice view." His bouncy voice enters her ears. His cheeks turn hot with her breast against his cheeks "Uh-what are you doing?" He asks confused. She lets go of him and looks at him confused. "Is something wrong?" The boy innocently asks. Her brow furrows "You had another seizure." He notices her worried face. "Oh..." he doesn't know how to respond.

"God it's cold." She shivers and pulls the covers back overtop her exposed body. She lays down to gain warmth.

His belly rumbles. _Man I'm hungry._ "You hungry?" He gives his full attention to the naked girl's face. "A little." She replies. "Well then..." he climbs overtop her and nearly tumbles on top her. _Clumsy fuck _he thinks to himself. He lands on his feet "I'll get my dear princess something to eat." She giggles to herself "Just make sure Omar doesn't put his 'secret' ingredient in mine." He laughs "I can't promise it'll taste as good, but as you request." He clumsily grabs his underwear and pants but then the door starts to open. _Shit!_ He throws his attire at the closet and stumbles over his feet to get back in the bed. Clem throws him some of the blankets and he covers his lower half with it.

The afro-haired AJ barges into the room with his coloring box that has some new supplies Tenn gave him. "Hey Louis!" His innocent face gleams to the bigger boy who's sitting on the bed. "Hey little dude!" He matches his intensity. He keeps himself together to make it appear as if it was a normal day. Clem with the blankets covering her naked body is in panic "Uh-AJ..." Louis notices her shaky voice. AJ hops onto his bed and opens the coloring box to draw "Yeah Clem?" Louis quickly steps in "Do you know if Tenn is hungry?" The boy squints his face to the question as he draws shapes onto his paper. "I don't know... I didn't ask him." Clementine's child looks up at the larger boy. "Could you ask him? I'm going out to get everybody food." AJ's face gets big. He loves when people give him missions, it makes him feel important "Yeah I'll ask him."

AJ lays his materials to the side and jumps down to the floor. He stops to examine Louis' bare chest "You know Louis..." _Please don't ask me to stand up _Louis begs to himself. The little one walks up the brown eyed boy and points at his chest "Those scars make you look badass." Clem snaps her head out from under the blankets so angry that she almost revealed her naked body "Swear!" Her teeth grind. AJ quickly corrects himself "I meant cool." Louis chuckles to Clem's motherly correctness. "I'll go ask Tenn." AJ starts his way but stops holding the door handle "And-uh-Louis?" Louis changes his attention from the girl to him "Yeah buddy." AJ's throat tightens "...Thank you..." Louis' face scrunches and he looks at Clem who is just as confused as him. "Thank you for protecting Clem." Both the girl and Louis' eyes widen. Louis clears his throat "If you ever need a guy to take a knife for you... you know who to call." He tries to make light of his heroic action. AJ snaps at him "No... I'm being serious." Louis dangles his head down and looks the little boy's mother. She gives him her sweet eyes and bright smile "Any-day buddy." AJ fights a tear back inside and opens the door. Louis interrupts him before he exits "I'll meet you at his room." AJ nods and exits.

Louis gets his clumsy body out the bed "That my darling was way to close." He sighs in relief. Clem's body relaxed when her little boy left the room "I'm surprised he didn't ask for a hug." Louis starts to laugh imagining the awkward situation "Yeah, that woulda been a disaster." She watches him as he puts his clothes on. As he grabs his shirt she starts to get out of the bed. He turns his back to her to give her some time to get dressed.

"Lou... you're doing it again." "Doing what?" He turns to her but keeps his eyes fixed on other things in the room. She moves to him putting her long sleeve shirt on "Awkwardly looking around the room." She giggles. With her shirt on he focuses on her face "Thought you'd like to change in private." He says innocently. She puts her underwear and blue jeans on, Louis adverts his attention to other objects as she does this. She catches him doing it again. She silently chuckles to herself and stands in front of the taller boy. A toothy smile dominates his features. She gets on her tiptoes and kisses him on his freckled cheek. "Come on Lou." She drags him along with her. "Oh... I almost forgot..." she lets go of his hand and runs to the bed frame to grab her hat. She fits it snug on her head "Better." She trots back to him and they exit together.

AJ waits outside Tenn's room waiting for Louis. Louis and Clementine walk towards the boy who jogs to them. "He said he wasn't hungry." "What about you?" Louis asks. "Nah. I have to ask Willy about something though." Louis fist bumps the little guy. He walks up to Clem and hugs her waist and runs to find Willy.

The day was fair. It isn't cold and it isn't hot. This is the first time in a while they've had this kind of weather.

"Hey Clem?" Louis turns toward her, which she does the same. "I'm going to help Aasim with the greenhouse. He said that he wants to finish it now that I'm walking." Clem nods her head "Just... promise me you won't be too hard on yourself." He gives her a compassionate hug "I promise." He smiles to her and walks towards Aasim who is discussing food plans with Ruby.

Willy was on lookout as usual. Clem calls his name, his head jerks to her voice "Yeah Clem!" He's worried she's found out about his secret bomb project "Know where AJ is?!" His body relaxes knowing his secret hasn't been discovered "I saw him talking to Ruby." He then pauses "I think he went back to Tenn's room." She starts for his room "Thanks Willy." He quickly responds "No problem."

As she approaches the door Tenn and AJ's conversation grow louder "So the police officer caught the bad guys?" She knew it was AJ because Tenn's voice is raspy. "Yeah. They caught all the bad guys."

She opens the door, AJ's voice follows "Hey Clem." Both of them are on the floor drawing. A deep sense of accomplishment consumes her seeing him being a kid "Mind if I draw with you?" His eyes enlighten "Yeah! Come sit!" He's always wanted to draw with her but she's always too busy.

She sits down by his side and picks up the purple colored pencil "What should I draw?" She use to draw a lot when she was his age.

He thinks for a minute "You pushing me on that tire thing." She chuckles to his ignorance "The tire swing?" His face shines "Yeah, that thing!" She begins her drawing "I can't promise that'll look pretty." He defends her "You'll make it great."

**One hour later**

"Alright kiddo. I have to get some things done around the school." She hands him her completed drawing. The boy is surprised as he witnesses her drawing skills. "Clem this is great!" He passes it to Tenn who was leaning over the boy's shoulder. "Where'd you learn to draw like this?" The raspy voice of Tenn is astonished. She chuckles "I use to draw a lot when I was your guy's age." Tenn carefully continues to study her drawing. AJ jumps onto Clem with his arms wide. "Be careful Clem." "I should be saying that to you." He giggles.

Clem opens the double doors and is welcomed with a comfortable breeze. _I really should see James._ She makes her way to the gate.

Aasim was practicing with his bow at the makeshift shooting range beside the cellar. He sees the light-skin girl heading towards the gate "Clem!" He waves her down and she approaches him. "What's up Aasim?" While holding his bow he picks up his homemade quiver which holds a respectable amount of arrows "You up to hunt around?"

Violet comes out of the cellar and hears the girl with the baseball cap respond "Sure. Come with me to find James and we can hunt afterwards." He nods to her and gathers his things. Vi jogs to the slightly shorter teenage girl "Could I come along. I'm kinda tired of tending to Minnie." Upon meeting the hazel eyes of Clementine the blonde dangles her head down and rubs the back of her neck. "I don't see why not." A timid smile appears on the blondes face. The girls meet up with Aasim and they head out together.

**Ten minutes later **

Aasim is discussing the status of the school like he usually does "We're good on food right now, but winter is almost here and we don't have enough to ration for the season." Clementine reassures him "We can scavenge out further than we usually do for the next month and we'll be fine." He flips through his notepad "Yeah... maybe."

"How's Lou been?" The blonde gains the hazel eyed girl's attention. Aasim ventures a little further out from the two trying to find signs of James. Clem directs her face between what's in front of her and the girl as they talk "He's upset, but he seemed really happy this morning." A reminiscing smile protrudes her face remembering the details of last night. The blonde awkwardly gazes from the girl's body to other objects in the forest. "Upset about what?" Her low voice asks. Clem sighs "He has problems... from the head injury." A small silence fills the air "Like what?" The blonde curiously probes. "Well he's had two seizures since he's been awake. He had one this morning." Clem says sadly. Vi becomes visually disturbed thinking about Louis being tortured by his own body, especially since Minnie did this to him. "He's also a little clumsier than he was before." She adds. Vi notes her discomfort. "What made him so happy... because when Lou is upset, he usually stays that way until something cheers him up." A faintly noticeable hue of red overcomes Clem's cheeks "I-uh-I-I'm not sure." She lies through her teeth. "Well I'm sure you did something. I mean you guys went to bed pretty early last nigh— wait..." the blonde's brow furrows thinking to herself. _Holy shit__They did not do what I'm thinking, there's no fucking way_Vi looks back up to Clem who's face got even more red than before, obviously sensing the blonde knew about it. Vi chuckles underneath her breath which makes Clem even more embarrassed "I'm happy for you guys." Her face still flushed with a smile now forming "Thanks Vi." "I won't tell anyone." The blonde reassures her, which makes Clem relax. Vi gets the idea to tease her "I bet he didn't last five minutes." Clem looks at her and a toothy grin reveals itself "Neither of us did." Vi burst into laughter.

Aasim falls back to the girls and matches their pace "I can't find a trace of James." "We'll find him" Clem reassures. Aasim starts to talk about the repairs being made around the school and an update on the greenhouse "Louis and I have been toating some of the building materials we got from the raiders to prep for repairs for the front wall... I told him to take a break but he went to the greenhouse and started working on something over there ." _I told him to take it easy._ Clem's face tightens "He shouldn't be doing a whole lot today. He's going to get himself hurt." Aasim looks at both the girls "I-I told him that, but he said he wanted to help around."

They are brought out of conversation to the sounds of growling and crackling noises. Four walkers reveal themselves in a small group a short distance from the three.

Aasim firmly grabs his bow and loads an arrow "You want to take them?" Clem draws her knife "I'll take the one in the front and you shoot the closest one from me." He nods. Vi unsheathes her cleaver "I'll get the one in the back." They nod to one another and execute their plan.

Clem approaches the walker in the front. The stench of rotten flesh and bodily fluids reek the air. It doesn't affect the girl as she has grown accustom to the aroma.

She leg sweeps the first which causes it to fall flat on its face. Aasim's arrow soars past her and strikes the closet one to her in the head. The girl with the baseball cap swiftly stabs the walker in the head. In one swift motion she throws her knife into the next walkers skull. Her footwork has become flawless with her seven years of experience.

Vi hacks her cleaver into the last walker killing it. Clem recovers her knife "That was pretty fucking cool." Vi tells the skilled survivor. Clem cleans the knife on her pants "Thanks." "Fucking asshole!" Both the girl's turn to Aasim who's collecting his arrow. His agitated voice continues "Fucking broke my arrow." He kicks the walker in the face.

A whisper creeps into Clem's ears "Clementine." She turns to the voice with the knife raised over her head to throw it. The talking walker shields his body "IT'S ME CLEM!" He takes his mask off to reveal himself to her. They three teens relax and Clem lowers the knife "You really shouldn't sneak up on people." He quickly defends himself "I wasn't trying to scare you." She softens her voice to match his "I know, but you know what people do when they're scared." He nods understandingly "Yeah... sorry." He trots along with them beyond the safe zone.

"Where are you guys heading?" James' naturally soft voice flows with the breeze. "Past the safe zone to hunt, and scavenge." She pauses "We were also looking for you." His face jumps "Looking for me... why?" Clem signals Vi and Aasim to stop. "We want you to join us at the school." He looks between her and the rest of the kids "I don't know Clementine..." "You protect us from the walkers and you're our friend. We don't want you to be alone anymore." _I trust her and AJ but I don't know about the rest._ He looks into her caring eyes and glances down "How's Louis?" She straightens her back "He's up and walking." A rare smile takes his features "Good..."

Tense silence fills the air "I'll think about it." Joy fills inside of the curly-haired teen "You're always welcome to come and sleep inside the walls."

James puts his mask back on and bids them all farewell. "And Clem..." He grabs her arm before she is able to resume their hunt "There's a herd coming in from the southwest... a big one." Vi and Aasim notice they left Clem behind and walk the short distance back. "They're maybe two days away from the school. Make sure you guys are extra quite for the next couple of days." She nods to him and he lets her leave.

"What'd you guys talk about?" Vi asks. Clem sighs "A herd is heading in from the southwest." "I'm guessing we're to stay low until they pass?" The blonde asks. Clem nods her head "Yep."

They continue past the safe zone.

"Louis... I don't think it's the greatest idea to talk to Minnie." Willy says bluntly. "Clem said that she wanted me to see her." He painfully accepts Clem's orders. "I'm going with you." The voice of AJ makes the boys jump. Louis gets on one knee and fist bumps AJ. "You and me on a team is overkill." AJ smiles hearing Louis' comment. They head inside with one another.

The eerie sounds of humming and singing fill the cellar. "Don't worry Louis. She's been like this for a while." Louis gulps. "Well isn't that comforting." AJ grabs a baseball bat stashed behind an old desk. "What'd you need that for?" AJ pats it on his hand. "Just for protection." Louis awkwardly nods his head. _AJ is probably the most savage kid I know. But it is pretty badass sometimes._ They turn the corner meeting the sickly looking girl. "Why does she look so sick?" AJ points the bat at the food on the ground. "She won't eat." He bluntly states. Louis timidly walks up to the broken girl. "Hey Minnie." She continues her looping song. Her wrists are bleeding from her struggling to set herself free. _I'm sorry Minnie._ "It's Louis." She stops her humming but continues to stare at the ground. His breathing gets heavier. He goes to touch her shoulder but on contact she violently pulls and tugs on her restraints to set herself free. AJ pulls him back from her. "She's crazy." AJ tells the boy.

**Six hours later**

The three teens caught a feast. Aasim's back is snapping with the weight of a medium sized deer slouched over his shoulders. Clementine has bodies of rabbit swinging from her side. Vi is carrying some birds and a packet of berries. "Looks like you where right Clem." She's never seen Aasim so happy

The sun is setting as they approach the gate "They're back!" Willy's voice calls to the others inside the walls.

As they enter the gate they are greeted by Willy and Ruby "Holy shit... a deer!" Willy hasn't seen a deer since the beginning of the apocalypse. Aasim drops it from his shoulders "Goddamn my shoulders are killing me." His shoulders where painted in the deer's blood. Ruby goes and tends to the back-broken teen "Are you okay?" The southern accent of Ruby asks him tenderly. While pushing his hands off of his knees Aasim tries to not make her worry "I'm fine Ruby."

Clem sits her rabbits on the table "Willy could you get the meat to the basement?" He jumped "Yeah." She gave her attention back to Aasim "You good?" His back was huntched over "Yeah. I'm going to help Willy, then I'm going to sleep." She agrees.

Louis comes out the admin building occasionally tripping over himself with a toat of their building supplies heading towards the greenhouse. Clem notices his fatigued body slowly make its way around the courtyard. His shirt was covered in sweat and the front of his shirt has some blood on it. He sees her in the corner of his eye looking at him. He redirects his face to hers and gives an exhausted smile. She gave him a troubled smile. He notices the pain in her face and he too becomes depressed.

AJ comes running out the basement to begin his watch "Clem!" The youth was always happy to see his mom. Goosebumps form on her skin "Hey goofball!" His face crunches "It's AJ." His voice noticeably offended. "Sorry. I'll stick to AJ." She loves to see him defend his integrity. "What are you in a hurry for?" She suspects that he is meeting someone. "It's my turn on watch." He loves to be the one protecting the homestead. "Wanna hung before your big watch?" A grin grew on her cheeks. He embraces her hip "Be safe." Her voice made him forget the constant danger he's in.

As she walks away he stops her "Can I play with Tenn again tonight?" She gives him a suspicious face "Yes you can, but your coming back to our room tomorrow." He reluctantly agrees and runs to his post.

Her body is aching and sore. Her knees are starting to get unbearably painful. She heads towards the admin building when Ruby stops her "Hey Clem!" Her tired eyes meet Ruby's "Yeah!" Ruby points to the picnic tables "Food is ready!" Clem painfully walks and grabs her bowl "Tell Louis I'm taking his to our room." A smirk appears on the redheads face. "I'll tell him."

Clem enters her room and lays Louis' bowl on the dresser. She sips the juices from the bowl. The warmth of the stew gives her chills.

By the time Louis made it to the room she has nearly eaten all her food.

The door cracks open with a grunt meeting it. "Ouch... garbage ass door." He spots Clem sitting on the floor, with her back against the dresser. His pain vanishes with her presence "What did our famous chef make today?" She giggles "More strew." His face turns to disappointment "Yummy!" He says sarcastically.

She pats on the floor "Sit with me." He grabs his bowl and sits beside her. He takes a sip and a piece of Omar's hair gets caught in his throat. He spits out his stew and grabs the hair "I fucking told you he's putting it in there on purpose!" She bursts into tears from laughter. His heart warms to it.

"Oh you think it's funny that our dearest friend is trying to assassinate me." A grin is still on his face. "You're the cutest." She says recovering from the laughter. He shoots his face back "Cute?" He holds his chest as if offended "I think you meant most charming man ever." She rolls her eyes and continues to eat her stew.

She notices his wheezy breathing "You really shouldn't had done anything today. You need to heal." He glances at her boots "I wanted to help." His voice assertive but gentle. "It won't help if you get yourself hurt." He remains silent thinking about what she said "Can you please take a couple of days to let your body rest?" She can't stand to see him in pain any longer. "I can't just sit around and do nothing." He sees her face downcast "I-I'll take it easy for the next couple of days. But I'm still going to help around." A grin grew on her face "Thank you."

A short minute passes when she catches another glimpse of the blood spot on his shirt "Why's there blood on your shirt?" He looks down and remembers the incident from earlier. He wants to tell her but he's scared that it'll only upset her. "I'm not sure." Her brow furrows "You wouldn't lie to me... would you?" He really doesn't want to show her but he can't bring himself to lie to her. He lifts his shirt up to show her. "Lou..." She gets on her knees and examines the wound. "I was carrying a box and tripped myself... I don't know what did it." He studies the girl's face as she carefully touches his abdomen. It's obvious to him that she's upset. He lets his shirt drape back over him "Seriously Clem... It's nothing." He hands her bowl back to her. She continues to eat but not without thinking about his cut.

They both finish their food at the same time. He eyes her empty bowl "You still hungry?" She shakes her head "No, I'm full." His exhausted body gets under his clumsy limbs "Well then..." He holds his hand out "I'll take your bowl down." His face full of admiration. She decides to let him be the gentleman "Thank you Lou." A grin grows on his face "Anything for my Queen." Her cheeks glow red.

He heads towards the door humming to himself but then stops at the door "When I get back... y-you wanna talk." Her face full of mystery "About what?" His heartbeat rises "Last night..." The memories replay in her head and she blushes even more "Yeah." He enlightens the more she blushes "And just FYI miss Clementine." She looks up to him with her flushed face "I think it's pretty hot when you blush." She rolls her eyes "I'm sure it is." "Oh trust me. It is." He opens the door "See you in a minute." She gives him an tired smile.

Clementine sits there and rests her eyes.

A couple of minutes pass before Louis opens the door. He trips over himself as he goes to sit beside her. "You wanted to talk?" Clem asks. "Oh yeah." He nearly forgot. He takes a deep breath "How do you feel about it?" A slightly noticeable smile forms on her face "I enjoyed it." She makes eye contact "How do you feel about it?" He downcast trying to find the right words "To be honest... I can't explain how I feel... I know I'm happy about it, but I feel like it meant so much more..." Her brow furrows "What do you mean?" He continues to try the right words "D-Does it feel more than just sex to you... because to me I don't care about that part... I care more that we got to really trust... love one another..." A illuminating smile overcomes her with his pure soul. She holds his hand and interlocks her fingers with his. He does the same. "I feel that way too." A twinkle of light passes over his pupil to her response.

He stands up with her hand in his and helps her up "You wanna go stargaze?" Her eyes widen "I'd like that." He lets go of her hand and grabs a towel from the dresser "What are you doing?" He walks to the closet "To take a shower before we go. I feel disgusting." She agrees with him and grabs herself some new clothes and a towel.

The couple following the moonlight make it to the showers. Louis looks at the girl's face with a smirk "Wanna shower together?" She chuckles to herself "You'd like that wouldn't ya?" He shrugs his shoulders "I mean... we'd be saving water." He can barley see her roll her eyes "Not tonight lover boy." He pushes the curtain to the side "Well... this room is for you then." He holds the curtain door for her to enter. He bows as she walks past him. "Thank you." "My pleasure." He closes her curtain and goes into the other room.

Louis stands under the dripping liquid beating himself up. _What a fucking idiot. "Wanna shower together." What are you Louis a fucking animal? _He shakes his head condemning his actions.

Clem is inside the opposite room doing the same thing. _One of the rare times he try's to make the first move and you shut him down. No wonder he doesn't do it very often. He's probably beating himself up over it._ She sighs to herself.

Clementine is brought out of her thoughts through the boy's voice "I'll be outside waiting Clem." She shakes her head coming back into reality "I'll be out in a minute." He smiles to himself hearing her voice.

Clementine turns the faucet off and drys herself off. She puts on a new attire which consists of tight blue jeans, a white long sleeve, and her boots. She stares at the hair clippings Lilly gave her. _I'll let my hair stay down for the night._ She stuffs the clippings into her pants and walks outside.

Louis sits on a small log that he found a few feet from the showers. He's tracing the scar on his face, feeling it's texture._ I bet I look hideous._ He sees the girl exit the showers and stands up to meet her. Clementine pats and searches herself to make sure she got everything out of the shower room. "I've never seen you with your hair down before." Her hair drapes slightly past shoulder length. She flicks the side of her hair causing it to go behind her ears. "I need to cut it." She uses her free hand to move her bangs out of her face. A deep sadness hits the young man. "But I love your hair." He pouts to her. His clumsy fingers rub on some of the individual strains. "I would leave it longer... but I made a promise." **Keep that hair short**. Lee's voice echoes in her head. Louis stumbles to his belongings and brings them with him. He holds his hand out to stack her belongings onto his "Your luggage madam." He uses a very formal and preppy accent. She lets him be a gentleman and loans him her stuff. "Thank you." His stupid toothy grin overcomes him again. "Anything for you."

He glances at her luscious hair again. "Could I at least cut it for you." A luminous joy fills inside her. "You'd do that?" He tugs on his trench coat "Yes and I promise I won't make you bald." She twirls a piece of her bang. "I'd like to have hair Lou." He motions her to follow him, which she does "Even if I mess up, and that is a big IF, You'd still be beautiful to me." She chuckles to herself. _He doesn't mean that... or does he..._ "Mess my hair up and I'll cut your dreads while you sleep." She playfully grabs a piece of his hair and uses her hands as scissors.

He uses his free hand to grab ahold of his prized possession. "You'd sever my soul in two." She shakes her head. "Idiot..." she mumbles. "Actually Clemmy, my IQ is very average." She shoots her face at him. "How would you know?" He looks at her every couple of feet. "They made us do a stupid test when we joined this shitty school." He starts to laugh uncontrollably. Clem's brow furrows. "What's so funny." He regains enough composure to tell her. "I cheated on the test." He continues to laugh. _What an idiot. _She giggles to herself.

They come up to the gate of the school. Louis gives their stuff to Willy who's on watch. "Willy watch our stuff." Confused the young boy grabs their stuff. "Why do you want me to watch your stuff?" Louis points to the gate. "I'm showing Clem something." Willy looks out over the walls. He's believes it's to dangerous for them to be out roaming in the dark. "I don't know Louis. You guys really shouldn't be out there in the dark." "We're not going far." Willy looks down at the couple. "Ok." Willy huffs and puffs to himself.

Louis and Clementine venture out the gate. "After you." Louis holds his arm out holding the door for the girl. He sees a smirk dominate her face, making him fuzzy inside. "Yell if you guys get into trouble." Louis looks up at the younger boy. "Will do captain Willy." Willy's eyes slouch. "Don't ever call me that again." Louis grabs ahold of Clementine's hand and walks with her. He holds his thumb up at Willy. "Loud and clear captain." Willy shakes his head and sits down watching the couple disappear in the darkness. "Fucking Louis." He whispers into the void.

"Where are we going?" She's worried about the herd on the way. "You'll see. We're almost there."

While walking he looks at her face every couple of feet. "I saw Minnie today." The surroundings grow tense. "Minnie is like a sister to me, but she's not in there anymore." A deep sadness consumes his being. "I think we should just put her out of her misery." He cringes saying it. Clementine grows distressed seeing him so upset. "We can keep her around" "No..." He interrupts her "I'm going to talk to Vi and find the best way to let her rest." She nods her head understanding. She hugs her right arm around his mid back trying to comfort his broken soul.

Louis trips over himself and falls to one knee. Clem is instantly by his side. "Lou!" She supports him with her arms. "Awe, I'm fine Clem. Just a little clumsy." He chuckles to her, but she isn't so enthused. With her help he stands back up and they carry on.

Clementine's knees feel like their about to explode from the inflammation. "Ouch!" She loudly whispers to herself. She stops for a moment. Louis turns to her and sees her rubbing on her knees. "Your knees bothering you again?" She nods her head, the pain is to intense for her to talk. "Here let me carry you." He goes to lift her up but she stops him. "No... I got it, just give me a second." She rubs on her knees a couple of more times. She chuckles to herself. "We're a bunch of cripples, you know that." Louis laughs. "At least we're crippled together." She chuckles. "Yeah, you're right."

They walk past a rotting barn which was covering a hidden pier. "Viola!" Louis says with his teeth greeting the girl. The old rotting pier hangs over the river with a clear view of the bright night sky. "I know it looks like shit, but it has a great view." He directs her to a spot on the edge of the pier. The moonlight glistens on their skin. He sits down with his legs dangling over the edge and pats her a spot next to him. "A fresh spot just for you Clemster." Her cheeks turn pink, but it's too dark outside for him to tell.

"They're beautiful." Clementine says while observing the star filled sky. "They could only dream of being as beautiful as you." Louis says honestly. She looks at the boy who is looking up at the stars. She looks back down to her thighs. "Thank you for being there for me last night." He glances at the girl and looks back up at the stars. "You wanna talk about it... the Ranch." Visions of the mangled children, women screaming from their rapists, and the slaughtered men who tried to protect them haunt her vision. "There's a lot of bad in this world Lou. I'm just glad you're not part of it." He adverts his full attention to the girl. "If you ever want to get something off your chest. You know who to talk to. Nothing you say will change how I feel about you."

She looks up at the bright orbs in the sky. "I saw the grave." _Please don't be mad at me._ "You're too good for me Lou." _Thank you god._ "You like it?" She looks back to the worrying face of Louis. "Words can't explain how much it means to me." She moves herself closer to the boy. They look up at the stars together.

He feels her body shiver from the midnight breeze. "Here, take this." He takes his trench coat off reigns it over her shoulders. "That is probably the cheesiest thing you've ever done." She says jokingly. "Well... cheesy is my middle name." She proudly wears it over her slim body. "Oh is it." "Actually no, it's Tye, but cheesy sounds cooler. And I like cheese." His airy voice is always so charismatic. She chuckles to his goofiness. _He's is the weirdest person sometimes._

"Vi said that you two went hunting today?" She shrugs her shoulders. "What about it?" An evil grin protrudes his mouth. "Oh nothing... Vi just seemed so happy about it." With his trench coat wrapped around her (which Louis thought was his greatest achievement) she tells him. "What's up with her? She's been acting so strange around me more and more." She hears loud air gusts burst through his nose, obviously trying to hold his laughter inside him. "You've not caught on yet?" She shakes her head confused. "Caught on to what?" More gust of air break through his nose. He looks Clem in the eyes and chuckles to her. "She likes-likes you." He finally releases his pent up humor. "No she does not!" She tries to defend Vi. "Oh yes she does my sweet Clementine." She glances down to her lap and back to him. "What makes you think that?" Without looking away from her. "She told me the week before the raid." "Oh I'm sure she did." He looks up at the stars to gather his thoughts. "I don't blame her... you're the greatest person I've ever met." Her face his flushes with a pink hue but the darkness doesn't allow him to see. "Not to mention that your beauty attracts all genders alike." She shakes her head and giggles to herself.

His iconic stupid grin reigns supreme on his face again. "You going to leave me for her?" Clem shakes her head. "Not in a million years." His grin grows more distinct. "So in a million and one years you'll leave me for her." He chuckles. She gives him a devilish look and rolls her eyes. "I'm not going to leave you Louis. I'll stay with you to our graves." An unexplainable feeling overwhelms his soul. **_Till death do us part_** he thinks to himself. They look up at the orbs floating in the sky.

Clem leans her body onto his. She lays her head onto his shoulder. A compassionate smile overwhelms Louis' features. He wraps his left arm around her figure which is still being warmed by his coat. He lays his head on-top her's. They both look up at the sparkling neighbors. "I really wish, that there were words that could describe how much I love you Clem... because I can't think of any." He is truly frustrated that he can't formulate a sentence that could bring justice to his feelings. She pecks him a kiss on his left cheek and lays her head back down. "I can't think of any either." He lays his head back on hers. They both tenderly smile thinking about one another, while gazing at the stars above.

**I'm taking a little bit of a break to make outlines for future chapters. Probably won't be a new chapter for some time. I am thinking of making a college AU but I don't know if I'm going to commit to it yet.**


	7. A Sea of Flesh

This chapter begins where the last chapter ended.

Clementine opens the door to their room and strolls inside. Louis follows behind her.

Clementine is giggling to herself. "That fish came out of no-where, anyone would have been scared." Louis defends himself. "You're the biggest dork sometimes." She playfully tells him. She takes his coat off and lays it on AJ's bed. "Dork is my middle name." Clem puts her hands on her hips and chuckles. "I thought cheesy was?" He shrugs his shoulders. "Oh you know...It changes, depending on what's making you smile in the moment." She rolls her eyes and walks to the dresser. She opens the match box and brings a match to life. Louis studies her hair but his eyes eventually venture down her figure, gifting him an itch through his body. She lights a candle which lays a couple of inches away from the box.

The dorm becomes dimly lit, but brighter than what the moon was emitting into the room. She opens the top drawer and puts her hair clippings inside the wooden structure.

A pair of warm arms benevolently wrap around her lower stomach. Louis hugs her close from behind with his lips hovering close to the left side of her neck. "I have to be the luckiest guy in the world." He slowly sways his hips side to side guiding her waist with his momentum. His amatory lips glide from her cheek to her neck. Clem's head tilts to his, her eyes close as his lips caress her skin.

She takes hold of his hands and takes his arms off her. He allows her to control his limbs. _You fucked up again Louis_. She holds onto his hands and turns to him. He's looking down at her while she tilts her head towards his. She places his hands on her hips and gets on her tiptoes, kissing the tip of his nose then moving to his hot-blooded lips. She holds her hands on his chest as their heads revolve in different positions, trying to gain better leverage on each other. He brings her closer. Their bodies press against one another. She places her hands on his face rubbing her thumb over his scar tissue, deepening their latched lips.

Louis' hands venture down to her butt. He lightly grips onto her. He feels her lips simper with approval. He lifts her up off the ground which makes the girl shriek. He keeps her held up letting her thighs rest on his arms. "Getting bold are you?" She states. He smirks. "Maybe a little." He says with a dumb grin on his face. She latches back to his lips.

She wraps her legs around his torso and hugs his neck with her arms. She lets go of his lips and leans her head onto his. Strands of her liberated hair lay on the boy's forehead. Both panting in anticipation for their skin. "You really know how to make a girl feel special." She deepens her gaze into his chocolate iris' "Well...you're more than special to me." Louis devotes his affection back to her lips. Clementine's airy moans escape out her nose and brush off his upper lip.

"Owe!" A sharp pain subjugates her special moment. She detaches from his lips. Louis' face jumps hearing her distress. "You okay?" She buries her head into his shoulder and rubs her knee with her left arm. Her face scrunches with every pulsating wave. He keeps her held up hearing loud gusts of air rush out her nose.

He takes her to the bed careful not to trip himself and lowers her body with his to relieve her of this pain. She lets go of his supporting body and leans over holding her knee. "I'm sorry Lou." His brow curls. "There's nothing to be sorry about." While on one knee he watches her clench to her hers. "I'll get your boots off." He unties them for her and carefully takes them off her feet, trying not to jerk her knee.

He lays them beside the dresser and travels to the closet. He takes his boots and pants off, replacing them with his light blue shorts. He looks back at Clem who is still in pain. "You want your shorts?" He watches her rub her knee a couple of times. The pain is too intense for her to speak so she nods. Louis grabs her black jogger shorts. He lays them on their bed and gets back on one knee. "Tell me what I can do to help...please?" She glances up to see him staring at her. "I just—need to lay down." She grabs her joggers and starts to unbutton her pants.

He watches as her light copper colored thighs expose themselves as she takes the pants to her ankles. His teenage mind starts to implant dirty thoughts into his head. He shakes his head trying to get them out. _Stop thinking about that Louis! You're better than this!" _"Could you get them off my ankles Lou?" Her soft, precious voice echoes in his head. "Of course." He tenderly holds her legs up and gently pulls the fabric off her feet. He studies her face making sure he's not being to rough. He gets them off and lays them in the closet. He takes a knee in front her again. She hands him the joggers. "Could you get them over my ankles please?" He takes them from her hand and carefully pulls them over her ankles up to her mid-shin. She gets hold of the fabric and pulls the rest of it over her body.

He takes a seat beside her, painfully watching her suffer. She tries to move her knees to her chest. "OWE!" She drops them back to the floor which makes her squirm in agony. Her back hunches over, she sits her elbows on her thighs and plants her face into her hands. "Lets just lay down Clem." She shakes her head. He sneaks his left hand under her shirt and rubs her naked back. Clem looks up to him with tears dripping from her cheek. "It—It hu-rts." He's never seen Clem cry from physical pain and it affects him differently than when she's upset mentally. He can help with those, but knowing he can't remedy her pain just destroys him. She plants her face back into her palms.

Louis gets off the bed and goes to her side. He takes a deep breath. "I know this is going to hurt Clem, and I don't want it to..." He cradles her legs. _I'm sorry. _He quickly lifts her legs up and lays them onto the bed. Clem jerks and contorts in discomfort. He looks at her face which is buried in her hands, her lip quivering. With sorrow in his eyes he covers her with the blanket. He blows the candle out. He gets back in the bed and gets underneath the covers with her.

He lays on his back staring at the metal beams above him listening to the girl cry. _I didn't want to hurt her, I-I hope she's not mad at me._ A frown submerges his usual jolly appearance. He turns his head looking at the back of her hair. He sadly looks back up at the metal beams.

Shortly after her cries and tears dry up. She swivels her head to the side seeing Louis stare off in front of him. "Thank you Lou." Stunned his face snaps to hers. "I thought you'd be upset." She tries to turn to him but is quickly reminded about her knee. "If you didn't do it, I'd still be sitting on the edge of the bed." An uncertain smile forms on his face. "I didn't want to see you like that anymore." She smiles at him, making him feel more confident in his decision. She notices how unusually distant he is from her. "You can get closer if you want, I don't bite." His stupid toothy grin finds its way to his face. She projects her face in front of her and closes her eyes.

Louis gets on his side looking at her back. He sneaks his arm underneath hers and holds the top of her hand. He brings himself into a tight spooning position. A bright smile is plastered on the girl's face. After a short minute their breathing becomes synchronized.

He abruptly hovers over her and plants three kisses from her cheek to her neck. He lays himself back into the same position. With a toothy grin on her face she tells him "Love you too." Louis matches her grin and closes his eyes.

"What do you think they'll do to Minnie?" Tenn keeps drawing while asking the afro boy. AJ glances at the boy's face burns and puts his attention back to his artwork. He shrugs his shoulders. "I'm not sure." The sounds of scribbling and paper crumbling dominate the room. Tenn stops drawing and mulls to himself. AJ notices and halts his drawing also. "What's wrong?" AJ probes. The room remains silent.

"I-I-I know what Minnie did was wrong... but she's still my sister." His voice shaky and nervous. AJ's brow furrows listening to his friend. "I don't want anything bad happen to her." AJ narrows his eyes on the boy. "She tried to kill Clem." His voice a little menacing. Tenn shakes his head. "I know, but I still love her." AJ coldly shrugs his shoulders. "She's crazy and dangerous. She's a threat." He says sharply. Offended Tenn questions AJ. "And what if Clem went crazy one day, uh—would you push her away too because she's a threat?" Tenn's teeth grind. AJ balls his left hand. "Don't talk about Clem." He says in a low menacing voice. Tenn stands up threateningly. "So when Clem goes crazy we'll just kill her or leave her to fend for herself!?" AJ throws his red colored pencil on the ground and presses himself onto the taller boy. AJ's fingernails dig deep into his palm, squeezing his fist so tight his hands turn white. Tenn sizes him up, but AJ presses his own body into the boy.

"Say ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING about Clem one MORE time and I swear I'll— I'll..." Tenn shoves his face into AJ's "You'll WHAT!?" AJ uses his head to push Tenn's face out of his. "Get the fuck out of my face!" Tenn presses back into the smaller boy. "Or WHAT! You'll go cry to Clem to come save you!?" AJ pushes the boy off of him. "Stop talking about HER!" AJ growls. Tenn presses the smaller boy again. He smirks seeing him get underneath AJ's skin so easily. "I don't know why you trust her so much. She's not even your family." AJ shakes and lowers his head looking at his fist. "You won't do it! Why don't you just go back to your room and cry to Cl—." AJ rams his fist into the older boy's jaw knocking him to the floor. Tenn tries to get back up to attack, but AJ tackles him back to the ground and throws every heavy blow he can. AJ bashes his fists through the bigger boy's guard smashing his face with his bare knuckles.

Tenn's face starts to get bloody, he throws AJ off of him and pounds on the smaller boy. Tenn catches AJ with a devastating jab as AJ tries to stand his ground causing AJ to fall to the ground and get a bloody nose. AJ pushes Tenn off with his legs and he gets back on his feet. Tenn throws a wild left hook, AJ ducks and throws a overhead right clocking the bigger boy on the side of his face, making him stumble back. AJ goes to tackle the boy again but is caught by a knee to the nose and a flurry of punches. AJ finds the boy's rhythm and uses a counter opportunity to trip him with his leg. Tenn falls backwards and AJ pummels on-top him. Tenn scratches the boy's face while AJ smothers him with his elbow. AJ grabs hold of Tenn's left arm and pins it across the boy's chest. He takes the opportunity to ram his elbow into the boy's scarred face. The strike makes Tenn dizzy and he grows defenseless as AJ starts to beat the life out of him.

Violet busts through the door. "Hey! Stop it!" She pries AJ's death-grip off the boy, he slips out of her grip and slams his elbow into the boy's face. "I said that's enough!" Vi rips him off and pushes him away from bloody boy. "What the fuck is going on!?" AJ wipes the blood trickling down his nose and cheek. He eyes Vi and storms out. She goes to Tenn's side. The burnt face boy has two cuts, the right side of his brow, his right cheek, and his nose is gushing out blood. "AJ!?" Vi pleads. Tenn eyes Vi and turns his attention to the floorboard.

AJ takes a walk around the school to cool off. He follows one of his routine patrol routes which will bring him to Clem's room. _He thinks he can say that about Clem!_ His hands ball back into a fist. He soaks the blood on his face into his jacket sleeve.

"What the fuck Tenn!" She helps the boy off the ground. "Why where you two fighting!?" Tenn takes a seat on his bed. He tries to breath through his nose but he just gets a mouthful of blood. He spits it onto the floorboard. Vi rushes to her room and grabs him her old rag. She tries to clean his wounds but he pushes her away. "Please leave me alone Vi!" She takes a seat beside him. "Not until you tell me what happened."

She hands him the rag. He dabs it onto his tender skin, slowly cleaning his cuts. "I asked him what we where going to do with Minnie... he said he didn't know..." the boy pauses and dabs the rag onto his dark skin. He winces touching his brow. "I don't remember much after that... but I said some things about Clem, and he got pretty mad." Vi takes the rag from him and cleans him herself. She huffs and puffs. "You know how AJ is with Clem. Why would you say something like that in front of him?" She continues to dab the cloth on his dark complexion. "He made me mad, and he got mad... I-I-I didn't mean to make him that upset. I only wanted him to see things the way I do." She takes a knee and brings the boy's face up to hers. "You know he's going to be upset about this for a while right?" He shamefully nods his head. "Yeah...I know." She stands up and lays him down.

"Get some rest Tenn." She pulls the covers over his body. She spots another pouch of blood trickling down his face. She gently wipes it off him. He weakly smiles at her. She leans back over and kisses him on the forehead. "Get some sleep." She starts to walk out but he stops her. "Hey Vi?" She turns to him. "Could—Could I stay in your room tonight?" She smiles to herself, happy that she doesn't have to sleep by her lonesome for the night. "Yeah! Come on!" He jumps out the bed and walks with her.

AJ comes to his and Clem's dorm and sneakily opens the door. It makes a squeaking sound which makes him cringe. _Please don't wake them up._ He opens it just enough for his figure to slide in.

He spots Clem and Louis in the bed sound asleep, cuddled up together. He tip-toes to the drawer and grabs his towel trying his best not to make any ruckus.

He obtains his towel and takes a seat on his bed facing his mother and Louis. He blows his nose into it, which shot a mixture of mucus and blood into the towel. _That's fucking disgusting._ He dabs his cheek which soaks its contents into the once white towel.

He touches his face with his bare fingers, trying to find any rogue blood pouches. He believes he's fine and puts the towel next to the closet.

He walks over to his bed about to go into it, but turns back to Clem. He notes her jolly smile that is plastered on her face. It makes the little boy smile seeing her so happy. He takes his bloodied jacket off, along with his boots. He timidly walks to his mother's bed and taps on her shoulder. "Clem!" He loudly whispers. She moves and a gust of air comes out her nose, but she does not wake. "Clem!" He whispers louder and shakes her shoulder.

Her eyes open seeing the dark silhouette of her little boy. "AJ! I thought you where staying with Tenn tonight." Her voice groggy. Her eyes open and close, threatening to take her back to her dreams. "I changed my mind." He clears his throat. "Could I sleep in your bed tonight?" He took what Tenn said to heart. He is scared that something like that could happen to Clem one day, and he'd no longer have her with him.

She uses her free hand and opens the covers. "Of course." She takes Louis' hand which is still latched to her's and places it under the lining of her left breast. AJ carefully gets in and lays with his back facing her. She pulls the cover back over them and cuddles the little boy. She kisses the side of his face. "Love ya goofball." She closes her eyes. He smiles but the fearful thoughts of losing her makes it dissipate. "I love you too Clem."

He stays awake for some time, but eventually melts into his mother's warmth and falls asleep in her possession.

Seven hours later

The day is overcast and a little chilly.

Clem opens her eyes. "mmmhhh..." she smacks her lips together, swallowing the morning sticky goo in her mouth (you know that fucking disgusting taste you get in your mouth when you're dehydrated in the morning. That shit is nasty).

She scans the room savoring the moment with both her boy's being next to her. She spots a bloody towel at the foot of the closet, her brow furrows. Clem peers over AJ's afro trying to get a better look at the object. Making it over his tower of hair she sees the little one's swollen face. Splotches of dried blood blend in with his dark complexion. She quickly jumps out of bed examining him. "AJ!" Startled Louis jumps out of his dreams, and looks around in hysteria.

AJ's left eye opens wide but his right one is limited due to the fluid under his cheeks. He quickly sits up worried about his mother. Clem shuffles over to him and caresses his dark chocolate cheeks. Louis adverts his attention to Clem's distress call.

AJ has dried blood scattered throughout the right side of his face. His right eye is swollen and his face has a dark blue tint to it. He stares into his mother's eyes sensing her distress. "Woah." Louis shuffles to the boy. He tenderly touches the boy's cheeks, which makes AJ wince. "What happened?" Louis asks curiously. AJ glances at the older boy, but immediately gives his attention back to his mother.

He witnesses a tear travel from her eye and fall from her cheek. It makes his throat tighten. She cups the side of his face with her hand. "Me and Tenn fought last night." He eyes between the both of them. A weird feeling hits his chest every time he looks back at Clem piercing into his eyes. "He said things about you... I told him to stop, but he kept saying them over and over and over."

"Lou...hand me that towel." Louis nods to himself and does as she asks. He hands her the bloody towel. She unravels it and finds a spot where it doesn't have blood on it. She licks the towel giving it moisture and starts to rub the blood off her son's face.

He winces with every swipe. "Violet broke us up." he eyes between her and the floor. She listens to him but doesn't say a word as she gets the dried substance off his face. She sniffs her runny nose a couple of times as she continues her work.

Louis can usually tell when Clem is upset and this was definitely one of those moments. It actually scares him with how silent and distant she's being.

He walks to the closet and takes his shorts off replacing them with his pants. He grabs his trench coat and walks to Clem. He clears his throat. "I'm going to talk to Vi about this." She huffs and puffs, but doesn't give him an answer. He bends over and plants her a kiss atop her head, he runs his hand through her curly strands. AJ notes her distant feelings.

He walks over to the little boy who's being cared to and kisses him atop his head also. Louis whispers into the boy's ear. "Here in a little bit you wanna play on the piano?" AJ looks up to him and nods. Louis is surprised being gifted a smile from the battered boy. He tugs his coat, glaring down at Clem who's still cleaning her son. _I'll leave her alone... she's not all to happy right now, and I'd like to keep my teeth. _He walks to the door.

"Louis?" Clem's voice stops him from leaving the room. He looks behind him, she has her back turned still attending to her son. "See you in a little bit?" He smiles. "I was counting on it." He leaves the room.

AJ flinches. "Sorry kiddo." She continues to clean his face. "I'm sorry...for making you upset." She glances at his eyes but swiftly goes back to the blood. "Not upset...just—worried is all." AJ studies her facial expressions.

"He wouldn't stop saying things about you." As he finishes, she starts to clean his forehead. "What did he say?" She asks curiously. "Just...things." Her brow furrows. "I have always said I would protect you Clem, and I don't care who it's against."

She places her hands to her side. "You're my little boy...you know that? I—I know I'm not your mom—but I love you as if I am." He takes his gaze off the floor and looks up at the teen. She embraces him, hugging every inch of his being. He returns the favor.

"You are my mom Clem." Her eyes open wide and she disengages from him. She keeps her hands on his shoulders peering into his eyes tenderly. "You've watched over me all my life Clem." He glances at the floor and back to her. "I know your life would have been easier if you just left me...but you didn't." With a lump in her throat she finishes cleaning his forehead. "Thank's goofball—that means a lot." Her voice threatening to break down.

"Don't thank me...you saved me, I should be thanking you." She swipes the last pouch of the dried substance off his face and stays kneeled looking up at him. "When I get bigger, you won't have to worry about anything. I'll keep you safe, just like you did for me."

*knock* *knock*

"Vi...you in there?" Louis stands at the entrance of the blonde's room. He knocks a little louder. "Vi, we need to talk." Louis hears a pair of feet shuffle towards the door.

The door opens revealing Tenn and his messed up face. "Woah...damn." Louis says. Tenn directs his face to the floorboards. "I guess you heard about it?" Tenn says in a defeated voice. "Yeah." Louis replies. "Come in." Tenn opens the door allowing Louis inside. "Vi's still sleeping." Louis looks over at the girl's bed. He smirks to himself evilly. "Watch this." He tells the boy.

Louis stumbles over to the sleeping girl. "What are you doing?" Tenn asks. Louis motions his hands down. "Shhh...I'm going to scare her." Tenn smiles and tip-toes to his bed to watch Louis.

Louis madly grins at the boy who is watching attentively.

"AAAAHHHH!" Louis growls and jumps on top the girl, flaying his arms all about. "HOLY FUCK!" Vi yells. She pulls her legs up and kicks the figure in the face.

"OWE!" Louis gets off her holding his nose. "Yep. You did it Vi, fucked up my face." She angrily sits herself up. "What the hell Louis! I told you to stop fucking doing that!" She punches his arm. "Owe! Hey stop!" He rubs his arm. "Goddamn." He whines to himself. She quickly cuts him off. "Seriously Louis, stop scaring me when I'm sleeping!" He puts his arms up. "Ok, Ok, I'll stop. I swear."

She relaxes when she spots Tenn laughing on the other bed. "How are you feeling Tenn?" Her face scrunches seeing his swollen face. "Not so great...my face hurts." Louis enlightens remembering why he came here. "Speaking of that. Vi?" She swivels her head back to Louis. "What?" Louis glances at Tenn. _Damn, AJ beat the shit out of him._ "What exactly happened last night? "AJ said he got into a fight with Tenn." Tenn's face downcast.

Vi notices his hunched expression. "Yeah, Tenn said that they both got mad at each other last night." "What over?" She tells him. "Tenn said it was over Minnie, but then Tenn said things about Clem...which prompted AJ to do that." She points at the boy across from them.

"I didn't mean to make him mad." Tenn defends himself. Louis walks over to the boy, kneeling in front of him. "You want me to get Ruby, cause you don't look so great." He asks the boy. "No." Louis stands back up. "Could you see if AJ would like to talk sometime today?" Louis' brow furrows. "I want to say I'm sorry for saying what I did." Louis nods his head. "Yeah I'll ask him."

Louis leans against Vi's bed frame. "Hey—uh— Tenn?" The burnt face boy looks to Louis. "Could you give me and Vi a couple of minutes to talk?" Tenn gets out the bed. "Sure." He walks past Louis and out the door, back to his room.

"What do you want to talk about?" Louis sighs and sits down beside her. He mulls to himself. Vi starts to get disturbed. "What's going on in there Lou?" He smiles. "I patented that quote, thank you very much." She rolls her eyes. He then goes back into his deep thought.

"What do you want to do with Minnie?" He looks up to her. Her once rare jolly appearance turns into her usual cold, calculated attire. "I don't know." Louis sits his elbow on his thigh and rests his chin on it. "I know you still love her Vi...and I really don't like to see you or her like this." He pauses to study her reaction, before he proposes his suggestion.

He notices her face downcast. "I think we should—put her down." He carefully says. Vi's throat tightens realizing one of her greatest fears coming to reality. "I don't know if I can do that." Her voice starting to become brittle.

Louis places his hand on her's. "I don't want to do it either...every time I look at her, all I see is the Minnie we loved." He pauses. "I've seen her, and you've seen her...that's not Minnie down there." He goes quiet letting her soak all the information in and gather her thoughts.

"If you don't want to do it—then name the person you want to." She closes her eyes trying to hold back her tears.

"I'll—I'll do it." She says defeated. Stunned Louis tries to make sure that-that's what she wants. "Are you sure?" She nods. He stands up. "Where do you want me to bury her?" She looks up at him. "Beside Sophie." He nods and walks to the door. He turns the knob. "When are you going to do it?" Without moving her face from the floor she replies. "Tomorrow night." He nods to himself and starts out the door.

Halfway out he stops himself and peers back inside. "I love you Vi...don't ever forget that."

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" James desperately monologues to himself. He continues his sprint to the school.

Aasim spots the walker running to the front gate and draws his bow. James sees him draw the string back. "DON'T SHOOT!" Aasim jumps down from the lookout and opens the gate. James runs through. He throws his mask on the ground panting for breath. He hunches over resting his hands on his knees. "What the hell is wrong?" Aasim asks. He peers through the gate trying to see if he was running from someone.

"Wh-ere's Cl—emen-tine?" He asks gasping for air. Aasim points at a tall wall with a metal gate. "The greenhouse." James quickly recovers and runs towards the greenhouse.

"Heya Clem? Could you bring me that basket?" Ruby asks while keeping count of the number of strawberry seed packets. "On it." Clementine walks past the of columns holding the soil. She picks up a worn weaved basket that is about the size of her head. She carries it to the redhead. "Here Rubs." Ruby grabs hold of the basket and lays it on the wooden panel in front of her. 13 _packets of strawberries. Better than nothing...I guess._ The redhead grabs the packets and stars to pack them inside the basket.

"You really think this thing will work?" The brown haired teen asks. Ruby shrugs her shoulders. "Probably not, but it would be awesome if we did get it to."

*Crash* *Crash*

The door busts open. "AAAHHH!" The sudden ruckus makes Ruby scream and drop the packets out of her hand, they stumble to the floor. Clem unsheathes her knife faster than the packets could hit the ground.

"Clem—enti-ne!" James tries to gather air in his lungs. "The-y're—they're he-re!" He stands his back straight looking down at the girl's. "Th-e hor-de." "Shit!" Both Clem and James redirect their attention to the distressed Ruby. "Willy's out getting water from the river." Clem sheathes her knife. "Where exactly?" The brown haired girl asks. "By the bridge, next to the old shack." Clem quickly starts to the door, tugging on James' arm. "Come on!"

"How long will it take to be good at the piano?" AJ asks sitting next to Louis and the ivories. "With my instruction, you will be better than me in no time." Louis says with a smile. AJ scans the keys and pokes a note. "You hear that AJ?" The swollen face of the boy furrows. "That's the beginning of a new song." AJ becomes more confident in himself through Louis' pep talk.

"What song would you like me to teach you?" Louis asks. AJ continues to eye the keys. "I don't know." Louis playfully nudges on his shoulder. "Ahhh...come on...I know they're is something you want to learn." AJ mulls to himself. "Maybe this can help unclog the ol' memory."

Louis cracks his knuckles. He places his fingers on the ivories. "Now I will warn you my dear child, I am not as good as I use to be." AJ straightens his back awaiting the tune. "This song is very dear to me, and if you learn to play it she'll be just as speechless." AJ's brow furrows. Louis begins to play the tune. He occasionally would hit the wrong note due to his clumsy nature. He'd laugh it off, but it really did bother him when he'd screw up a note. "Sound familiar?" AJ focuses on Louis' fingers, listening to the melody. "Kind—of." He rests his chin on his hands. Louis clears his throat. "Well...maybe this will help you remember." Louis repositions his fingers and starts the tune over.

_Oh my darling_  
_Oh my darling_  
_Oh my darling Clementine_

AJ's face brightens up realizing the iconic tune.

_You where lost and gone forever_  
_Dreadful sorry Clementine_

"I remember it now!" AJ excitedly gets closer to the keys motivated to learn the tune.

_Ruby lips above the water_  
_Blowing bubbles, soft and fine_  
_But, alas, I was no swimmer_  
_So I lost my Clementine_

Louis stops playing. "Alright! We got one song... any-others?" The overflowing memories of Clem humming songs to him his whole life play through his head, but one stuck out. "Umm... I don't know the name of it." Louis peers at the smaller boy. "Can you sing or hum it for me?" AJ starts to sing the lyrics.

_Row, row, row your boat_  
_Gently down the stream_  
_Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily_  
_Life is but a dream._

"Ahh...Ha! Row, Row, Row Your Boat, a classic indeed little dude." Louis says. AJ shakes with excitement. "Clem always used to sing it to me!" Louis smiles thinking about her singing. "I bet her singing voice is just as pretty as her normal voice." AJ quickly defends his mother. "Of course it is! What isn't pretty about Clem." Louis cheeks grow hot._ Well he's not wrong. _Louis grabs ahold of AJ's fingers and places them on the ivories. "Alright AJ, it's going to be tricky but it's like riding a bike. Once you learn you'll never forget." Louis says inspirationally. AJ swivels his head to the taller boy. "What's a bike?" Louis' face jumps. "Well... I guess that was the wrong analogy to use." AJ becomes even more confused. "What's an an—ana—analogy?" Louis drapes his head down defeated. _This whole dad thing is harder than I thought._

*Crash*

The boys jump. AJ unsheathes his knife, but Louis turns to the noise without a disturbed conscience. Vi busts through the door. "You guys need to come outside!" She quickly quiets herself. "Don't make any noise."

"Why are we going outside?" Louis asks as they approach the exit to the music room. "There's a herd on the way and Clem, James, and Willy should have been back by now." Vi says. A wave of worry and nervousness hit both AJ and Louis. "Wait—Clem is out there?!" Louis asks. AJ was going to asks the same thing but the elder boy beat him to it. Vi grabs ahold of the handles to the double doors. "Did I stutter?" Vi's smartass response makes Louis extremely mad, but he keeps it inside of himself. Vi opens the doors and they walk out.

Ruby, Aasim, and Rosie are at the front gate. Omar is in the basement with Minnie. Aasim is in the lookout tower scanning for the party. "You see them hun?" Ruby asks Aasim. The boy angrily shakes his head. "No... they should have been back by now." Ruby continues to peer outside the gate. Rosie sits and whines to the redhead. Ruby turns and pets the dog's head. "Don't worry girl, they'll be back." She looks back out into the apocalypse.

"Louis you're not going out there!" Vi demands. Aasim and Ruby look towards the commotion. "Yes I am!" Vi stops but Louis continues to the gate. She grabs hold of his arm trying to stop him. He tries to shrug her off but she grips him harder and puts herself in front of him. "Why don't you think about what you're doing!" Vi says angrily. Louis yanks her arm off himself. "I have thought about it!" "No you haven't!" She quickly snaps. He tries to walk past her but she pushes his shoulder and positions herself in front of him blocking his pathway. AJ eyes the blonde girl growing angry that she won't let them help find his mother.

"Hey! Louis!" She snaps her fingers in his face. He stares her down. "What if something bad happened out there? Uh? And what if you go out there and it happens to you too? AJ would lose the only family he has...we both know that Clem wouldn't want anyone else but YOU to look after him if something were to happen to her." Louis drapes his head down. "I'm sure they're fine Lou...I mean Clem has lived out there her whole life...and she has James, who has also lived out there his whole life." He struggles to gulp down his saliva with his throat the size of a needle.

"Holy shit." Aasim loudly whispers to himself astonished.

_*Distant walker growls*_

Ruby looks up to the boy whose face is frozen looking out into the wilderness. She looks outside the gate and finds herself in the same predicament. "Shhhh!—guys!" Ruby demands motioning her hands down. She hugs the gate in terror of the sight.

Vi turns away from Louis and goes to the redhead's side. Louis looks at AJ and motions him to follow.

"We need to help Clem." AJ suggested to the boy. Louis shakes him head. "I know." "Holy shit." Vi says in astonishment. Louis finds a gap between the girl's heads and peers through. He can't make out the shapes. "What is it?" He asks. Ruby moves out the way and pushes him to the gate. He scans the forest. He becomes terrified of what he sees in front of him. _Please...be okay Clem._

"Willy shut the fuck up!" Clem growls at the boy. "Sorry." He apologizes. They are held up in the old shack by the riverbed. "There has to be thousands of them." James says looking through the broken window. The intense moans and growls from the dead almost make it deafening. "You think we can sneak past them?" The girl asks the whisperer. James scratches his head. "I mean we could, but there's so many we'd get separated." She huffs. "How long do you think until they pass?" Willy goes and sits on the bed and pushes a duffel bag filled with his explosives to the side, trying to hide it from the girl. James shakes his head. "Hard to tell...they where moving slow yesterday, but not today." He pauses. "A few hours to a day maybe." Clem puts her hand on her hip. "What if something bad happens to the others while we're pent up here?" James looks at the girl. "I don't know Clem."

Willy speaks up. "I have an idea!" He says loudly. "Shhhh...are you trying to fucking kill us!?" Clem loudly whispers. "Sorry, I'll be more quiet." Clem walks over to him. "What's this idea?" He glances at his duffel. "I'll only tell you if you promise me you won't tell Ruby." She quickly responds. "I swear I won't." He looks over at his back, he scoots it over in front of him and unzips it. Inside are a collection of homemade pipe-bombs. "Bombs?" She asks uncertain of his motives. He grabs one and hands it to her. "We can use the noise, make the horde go the opposite way." She nods impressed with his somewhat plausible idea. She turns to James. "You think this will work?" He shakes his head in disagreement. "It's not the greatest idea to disturb a horde... if you're not careful you can break them up and they'll roam around here forever." He pauses. "If it is loud enough it can work... otherwise, you'll only will make it worse."

"Shit!" Willy loudly curses himself. "Goddammit Willy! Make another loud noise and I'm going to knock your ass out!" He quickly puts his hands over his mouth. "What are you cursing about?" He points into the duffel and rubs his forehead in disappointment. "The igniter is back home. Even if we wanted to do this, we can't now." Clem huffs and lays the bomb back inside the bag. Willy stays hunched over cursing himself.

"I lure one in and we use it's scent to get out of here." She suggests. Without looking away from the horde James says. "Okay." He looks to her. "I'm ready." Clem motions Willy. "Willy! Come on!" She loudly whispers. The boy springs from the mattress and hustles to them. "What's the plan?" He asks. "I'm luring a walker in here and we are using it's scent to sneak past the herd." He nods his head. She quickly follows up. "Stay close to me okay...James and I have done this countless times before, but you haven't. We can get easily separated so stay close to me." He bobs his head up and down. "I'll stay close I promise."

Clem travels to the door. James holds the handle. "Ready?" He asks in anticipation. "Ready." He opens the door and Clem enters hell. The groans are so loud that Clem could swear she could shout and the herd wouldn't know. She goes down the steps and taps a female walker on the shoulder. It turns around and follows the girl. "Come on." She encourages the entity. She climbs the stairs. Upon meeting the stairs the walker falls on its face and crawls up the short six steps to the platform. Clem stabs it in the back on the head and drags it into the shack.

In one motion she gets on her knees and guts the dead being. "Ouggf!" Willy nearly throws up smelling the stench. Clem reaches in and smears it's insides all over herself, from her boots to her forehead. James rubs some on his chest and gets Clem to put some on his back. Although his mask usually kept him hidden in herds, he remembers a certain time when he was with the whisperers and they where controlling a bigger than normal herd and somehow one of his partners in front of him became a human happy meal even though he was wearing the mask. "Thanks." He tells the girl. "No problem. Willy, I know it smells like shit, but right now it's time to go." He stands up straight and walks to the corpse. He digs inside it's organs. "This is disgusting...but awesome at the same time." He says. Clem puts some on his back. "Willy could you rub some on my back?" He reaches in. "Sure." He says with vomit on the back of his tongue.

They get up and walk to the old wooden door. "Ready when you are." James says to the girl. She turns to Willy. "Remember, stay close to me." He nods his head. "I will."

"You okay little dude?" Louis whispers to the boy. They are both in the lookout tower by the gate trying to spot the party. Louis is sitting on a old chair while AJ peers closer to the end of the deck. The horde have the School surrounded but aren't disturbing the structure.

AJ doesn't give a answer. He stares off into the sea of dead. Louis twiddles his thumbs, he occasionally misses his thumb. "You know you can talk to me...right?" AJ glances at the boy, then back out to the sea. "We should be out there helping her." Louis dangles his head. "I know bud." He says in a low tone.

"Hey Lou?" Vi whispers from below. The slender boy peers over. "Tenn wanted to know if he could talk to AJ." Louis glances at the afro-haired boy, witnessing his swollen face. He then looks back to the pale girl. "I don't think now's a good time." Vi's shoulders slouch. "He wants to apologize for what he said last night." Louis moves his dreads out of his face. "I'll—I'll ask him." She walks away.

Louis studies the boy, it makes Louis nervous not being able to read the little one's body language. He also found it disturbing that he is more scared of AJ when he's upset than when Clem is. "Hey, Tenn wants to talk to you." AJ's teeth grind. "Why? So he can insult Clem more?" A tense moment of silence is interrupted by groans and moans from the undead. "He wants to apologize." Louis says. AJ shakes his head. "Apologize?" He chuckles to himself. The little boy turns to the dread head boy. "Apologize?" Louis gulps. "Yes... apologize." His swollen face scrunches. "I don't want an apology." He points out to the sea. "I want to see Clem."

_*Intense growls and groans*_

"Where's James?" Willy whispers into the girl's ear. They are shoulder to shoulder with the dead persons. "I don't know." She simply states. She quickly adds. "Just don't talk. It's too dangerous."

One hour later

"Louis!" AJ loudly whispers. He points over the ledge. Louis swiftly moves next to him nearly tripping himself. A walker is waving at them from below. "James!" Louis loudly whispers. AJ starts to hop up and down from excitement. He scans around the boy in walker skin trying to see Clem. Louis rushes down the ladder. He misses a step and falls all the way down busting his ass on the grass. "Awe...Fuck!" He whines. He stumbles to his feet and opens the gate. James enters.

He frowns when James closes the gate behind him. "Where's Clem?" James' face sprouts. "I don't know...we got separated." He quickly adds. "I thought they'd already be here."

AJ climbs down with excitement but frowns when he turns to the boy's. "Where's Clem?" He asks. Louis gulps. James eyes Louis. "James said they got separated...we don't know where she is." AJ balls his fist up. He turns back around and climbs the ladder. "When did you lose her?" Louis asks. "I don't know...she was behind me and then she wasn't." Louis starts to the gate. "Well let's go search for them." James grabs his arm. "You won't find them out there." "What do you mean?" Louis pulls his arm off the boy's grip. "There's too many. Searching for them is like trying to find a needle in a haystack." Louis is tired of this, being helpless. He can't just sit on the sidelines while the person he cares about the most is in danger. "Give them some time...if they aren't here in the next hour or two we can go search."

Thirty minutes later

AJ continues to study the herd. He notices that they've become more scarce overtime. He's even able to see pockets of grass unlike an hour ago when all he could see where heads.

"Any luck bud?" Louis says approaching the boy from behind. He's coming back from a full school inspection on the walls to make sure none of the herd got inside. "No." He says in a defeated tone. "Wait..." Louis sticks his head out trying to get a better look. "Is that..." Louis swiftly heads down the ladder. AJ confused try's to find what made Louis take off. He then spots Clementine's baseball cap moving through the swarm of monsters. "Clem!" He loudly whispers.

Louis opens the gate. Clem and Willy sneak inside. "Clem!" AJ jumps and runs to his mother. He tackles her hip making her stumble back. "Woah kiddo!" "Willy!" Aasim says from behind. Aasim goes up to the boy giving him a hug. "I'm fine Aasim, Clem kinda saved my ass...again." Aasim laughs. "I'm just glad you're okay."

Clem takes her eyes off her son and finds Louis staring at her. A warm smile overtakes his features meeting her eyes. AJ squeezes onto his mother's hip. Louis walks up to her. "You kinda had us scared for a bit." He tells her. Before she can respond he hugs her neck. He kisses the top of her baseball cap. Clem closes her eyes and melts into the warmth of her boys.

Louis smirks and says. "God you smell like goat shit." He hears Clem and AJ laugh in synchronization. He closes his eyes and lays his head atop her hat.

"Guys? Food's ready." Ruby interrupts their hugging session. Clementine's stomach rumbles. "mmh." She holds to her belly. "Yeah...Food sounds good about now." She tells her boys. AJ's tummy growls. "Yeah, I'm hungry too." Louis snaps his fingers. "This sounds like a job for Louis." The dread haired boy states. Louis starts to walk to Omar. AJ catches up to him. "Wait for me!" The little boy loudly whispers.

Clementine watches her boys walk off with each other. She sees Louis do some weird hand gestures which makes AJ laugh. Even when hell is literally outside their gates, Louis finds a way to bring light into her and AJ's world. The curly haired girl smiles to herself. "Clem! You're okay!" A familiar feminine voice sneaks into her ears. "Vi!" Violet jogs to the girl and gifts Clem with a unsuspecting hug. "Woah...Vi. Don't knock me over." The blonde hair girl squeezes onto the slightly shorter girl. "You had us worried." Vi honestly states. She lets go off Clem. The blonde quickly adds. "I was scared that AJ and Louis where going to fight off the entire herd to find you." Vi then holds her nose and gags. "Goddamn you smell like dogshit!" Clem chuckles. "Yeah...I've been getting that a lot recently." Vi smiles and hugs the girl once more. "Seriously though, if you didn't show up in the next couple of minutes those two where going to tear across the state to find you." Vi disengages.

"I once ate a squid." Louis' bouncy voice fills the girl's ears. AJ looks up to the boy. "No you didn't."

"I'm just happy you're okay Clem." Vi smiles to her and leaves to get food. Louis trips on himself nearly dropping Clementine's bowl. He awkwardly laughs. "I did that on purpose, just wanted to show off my ninja skills." He playfully tells the girl. She chuckles. "Here you are." He bows holding the bowl out to her. "Madame Clementine." She collects her bowl. "Thank you."

AJ jogs to a spot on the bench closest to them and takes a seat. "Clem! Louis!" He loudly whispers to them waving them to join him. They walk with each other to the little one. Clem takes a seat on AJ's right side while Louis sits on his left.

AJ slurps the remains in his bowl. Louis takes a spoonful and stuffs it into his mouth. Clem eats in small spoonfuls. "Clem...I'm still hungry." Her son whines to her. Before she can swallow, Louis gives AJ his bowl even though it's still half full. "I'm full little dude. Eat up." AJ eyes between the older boy and the food. "Are you sure?" He asks him. "If I wasn't, I wouldn't have given it to you." AJ takes a spoonful out of Louis' bowl ready to devour its contents. Clementine nearly chokes tying to get her food down. "Here have some of mine Lou." She tries to hand him her bowl. He rejects it. "Nah...You guys eat up." Her face downcast. "We can share it." She suggests. He shakes his head in disagreement. "I'm fine...you guys eat your veggies." Louis nudges on AJ's shoulder. The little boy pokes the greens in the food. "I hate vegetables." Louis quickly counters. "Well...I heard that people who eat their veggies grow to be eight feet tall." AJ's face widens believing the older boy but he quickly squints his eyes suspiciously. "Who told you that?" AJ asks. "My mom." Louis answers instantly. "As you can see I didn't eat my veggies when I was your age, that's why I'm not a giant." Louis tugs on his trench coat. AJ begins to engulf the veggies.

They finish their food. AJ and Louis get up to take the dishes to Omar. Louis grabs Clem's bowl for her. AJ takes off with Louis following behind him until Clem stops him mid-stride. He turns to her meeting her sorrowful eyes. "What's wrong?" He asks. She keeps her eyes on him. "I know you're hungry Lou." He smiles. "But you guys aren't which is a win in my book." She studies his slender figure from his feet to the freckles on his face. She embraces him. He rests his cheek on-top her head. "It means a lot Lou...seriously...I don't know what I did to deserve someone like you."

Three hours later

Clem, AJ, and Louis are walking back to their dorm to go to bed. They just got through with a piano lesson and Clem was pretty exhausted.

"I think I got some walker guts in my mouth when I kissed your hat." Louis says. AJ giggles. Clem rolls her eyes. "Wait..." Louis becomes paranoid. "Does that mean I'm infected?" He asks them. Clem's brow furrows. "I don't think that's how it works Lou." AJ starts to get worried. "Is Louis going to become a monster?" AJ asks his mother. Clem quickly answers. "No AJ...he's just being dumb." AJ says. "Oh." He then giggles. "Dummy." He makes fun of Louis. Louis holds onto his heart. "Clem! He's bullying me!" He playfully whines to the girl. Clem shakes her head. _Sometimes it's like I have two children instead of one._ "Clem!" Louis whines. She smirks which makes him smile. He goes back into his acting mode and turns to the boy sticking his tongue out at him. "Hey!" AJ's mouth opens ajar offended. He pulls on his mother's sleeve. "He sticked his tongue out at me!" She looks up to Louis who's eyes are squinted at the boy. "I wouldn't dare." Louis says.

"Hey Louis?" Aasim interrupts them. The group stops walking, looking at the boy. "Uh-can I talk to you in private?" Louis glances at Clem. "You guys go ahead. I'll be there in a little." He tells them. She smiles to him and gives her attention to her boy. "Come on AJ it's time for bed." The little one nods and follows his mother.

"What's up?" Louis asks the boy. Aasim scratches his neck. "I wanted to know if you could give me some advice." Louis jumps stunned. "You want advice from me?" Louis points to himself. "Me. Louis. Aasim wants advice from Louis?" Aasim nods his head. "Yes I know I never ask for it, but you seem to know what you're doing with the subject." Louis brow furrows. "What subject?" Aasim huffs. "Dating and stuff like that." Louis smirks. "I mean you seem to make Clem very happy, and I want to do something special for Ruby...I just don't know what to do." Louis crosses his arms in a b-boy stance. "Have you took her out on a date yet?" Aasim shakes his head. "No...what did you do with Clem on your first date?" Louis giggles thinking about his simplistic first date. "I just lit a candle and shared some pretzels with her." Aasim nods. "mmh." Louis quickly asks. "What's Ruby in to?" Aasim thinks for a moment. "She likes animals..." He starts which makes Louis interrupt him with a great idea, or at least a great idea for Louis. "I got it!" Louis snaps his fingers. "You can take Ruby out and try to catch squirrels or rabbits." Aasim's eyes squint. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to catch those things?" Louis shakes his head. "No not really, but you can always check our traps for them." Aasim nods his head. "I guess I could try that." Louis pats him on the back. "You got this Simmy, trust me it can't be anymore lame than sharing pretzels by some candlelight." Aasim frowns at the other boy. "Don't call me Simmy." Louis shrugs his shoulders. "Sorry Simmy." Aasim shakes his head and parts ways from Louis. "Thanks Louis." Louis waves at him. "No problem."

"You can go rest Ruby. I'll watch the herd tonight." James tells the girl from below. Ruby peers over with bags under her eyes. "Are ya sure?" Her tiresome voice politely asks. "Yeah." She smiles to herself and climbs down the structure. "Thank you." James smiles.

"At least we had enough water for you and Willy to take a shower." AJ tells his mother. "You smelt really bad earlier." She chuckles. "You get use to it after doing it so many times." She tells him. AJ take his boots off and plops on his bed. Clem walks to the dresser and brings the candle to life. AJ looks all around for his blanket. "Clem? Do you know where my blanket is?" She takes her hat off and lays it on the dresser. "No. When's the last time you had it?" She looks at her son's swollen face. He huffs. "Tenn's room." He stands up and slugs to the door. "I'll be back in a minute Clem." She abruptly stops him. "Don't get into a fight." She warns him. He nods to himself. "I won't. I promise." He exits.

Clem takes her shoes off and places them beside her bed. She travels to her closet and takes her pants off replacing them with her black jogger shorts. "mmh." She moans in satisfaction. She travels to her bed and lays on her chest. She turns her face to the left, she places her hands over her hair and rests her back. She closes her eyes.

AJ huffs seeing the entrance of Tenn's room. _Just go in there, grab your blanket and leave._ AJ opens the door. He is met by nothing, Tenn wasn't inside. "Thank god." AJ whispers to himself. He spots his spotty blanket and collects it. He walks out of the dorm.

Louis opens the door. He scans the room. "Already hitting the hay sleepy head?" He starts to the girl. He trips over himself._ This is really starting to get annoying._ He hears her muffled groan from the bed. He then smirks with an idea, which he hopes she won't kill him for. "Did I ever tell you I use to play the bongos?" With her eyes closed she responds. "No. I don't think you have." He takes his jacket off. "Well I did." He takes his pants off and puts his shorts on. "Let me give you a sample of my bongo skills." He sits himself on the back of her thighs and drums on her buttcheeks. "Louis!?" She guards her cheeks with her hands. He rolls over to her left side. "Yeah, Vi always said I was terrible at the bongos." She smirks. She moves her hands back above her head. He rests his back on the wall behind him.

"Could you rub my back Lou?" He smirks. "Well...since you asked." He scoots to her. He presses his hands on her back and slowly leans in applying pressure to her muscles. He uses a kneading motion with his hands, gently squeezing and kneading the muscles along her spine. "Awe." She moans into the bed. "Your knees feeling okay tonight?" He asks the girl continuing the motion. "They feel fine today."

AJ enters the room. He places his blanket on his bed. He plops on his bed and looks at his mother and Louis. He giggles. "What are you doing?" Louis answers. "It's called a massage." His brow furrows. "Ma-Ma—Mas-sage? What's that?" Louis motions his head to his hands. "It's when you rub on someone's muscles when they hurt." "Oh." AJ says. The little one yawns. He lays down and cuddles himself with his blanket. "Night Clem. Night Louis." Both his mother and Louis respond simultaneously. "Night AJ."

"How are you so good at this?" She asks him. He shrugs his shoulders. "I'm probably not, you just haven't had a massage for a while." She wiggles her torso. "Lift my shirt up." She demands. His face begins to get hot. He lifts her shirt up to her shoulders. He starts to massage her back again. "mmh." She moans into the bed. He can't ever get over touching her bare skin. It always shoots a surge of energy through him.

AJ begins to lightly snore across the room. Clem giggles. "Him and his snoring." She says. Louis smiles. She pushes herself up and pulls her shirt down. He moves his hands away from her. "Thanks Lou." He lays himself back and gets under the covers. "My pleasure." She blows the candle out and retreats into the bed.

He sneaks under the covers and yawns. Louis lays back, putting his arms behind his head and closes his eyes. Clem lays on her left side showing her back to the boy.

A sudden urge hit her. She swivels her head looking at the boy whose eyes are closed. She scans his face scar. She moves over to her right side. She lays her head on his left peck, her hair tickles his chin. She drapes her left arm across his chest. She pecks him a kiss on the cheek and snuggles up. He smirks. "I don't know why you did that, but I wouldn't mind some more." She chuckles. "Shut up and go to sleep."

So I finished the outlines for the rest of the story. Turns out there will be 18 chapters in total. If you guys have any tips or advice to help enhance my writing I would really appreciate it.


	8. Second Chances

**One night later**

The full moon shares its light into the cellar. It penetrates through the scarce windows high up on the walls. The concrete structure is silent, only the unsteady breathing of Minnie can be heard.

Omar is passed out in a chair a few feet from the girl. The girl is malnourished, her clothes bag off her skin, and her face has become slimmer. A fresh plate of today's dinner sits in-front of her, which she has refused to eat. Minnie stares at her hands wishing that she could we free from this nightmare, from that boy. Every sound generated in the room gives her extreme anxiety, that it could be the product of her boogeyman.

_I want Vi._ Violet told Minnie yesterday that she was coming to spend the night with her. She's been looking forward to having someone she trusts by her side, especially if the boy comes back to torment her. Although the boy's visits have become a rare occasion, the times he did come haunt her all the way to his next visit. Minnie shivers as a random gust of cold air surrounds her bones.

Omar smacks his lips together and repositions himself on the chair causing the girl to look around in hysteria, hoping not to see the boy. _Vi please...hurry._

Violet rubs her forehead staring at her boots, mulling to herself if what she is about to do is the right thing to do.

***knock* *knock***

Vi is broke out of her deep thought. "Vi! Open up, it's Louis." A muffled whisper breaks through the door. Vi opens the door allowing Louis to come inside. She notices that he's by himself. Her brow furrows. "Clem not coming?" Louis shakes his head. "She fell asleep, I didn't want to wake her." Vi nods a little upset that Clem wasn't going to be with them. _Man I don't feel so great _Louis thinks to himself. The blonde takes a seat and plants her hands into her palms. "You okay Vi?" Louis timidly creeps up beside her. "Can we try to bring her back one more time?" The girl asks from her palms. "We can try." Louis says. The blonde nods her head and puts her boots on. She stands up and grabs her pistol from the top of the drawer. "Let's go." She says in a low tone walking past the boy.

***loud squeaking* *slam***

Omar jolts awake looking around the room. He hunches over rubbing his eyes. "You're sure about this?" Louis' voice echoes in the room. _Vi! _Minnie celebrates to herself. "I'm here aren't I?" Vi responds. Louis shamefully nods. Omar gets off the chair and walks out of Minnie's sight. "What are you two doing?" Omar asks mid-yawn. Louis motions his head behind the plump boy. "Minnie awake?" Omar bobs his head. "Yeah, why?" Louis and Violet exchange a look to one another. Louis motions Omar to get closer, he whispers into the boy's ear. Omar's eyes widen. "Do what you guys have to." The boy tells the two. He glances back where the girl is being held, he looks forward and walks out the cellar.

Minnie spots the blonde girl walk around the corner, making her feel more secure. Although she didn't show it externally, it shines internally. Louis leans his body against the concrete wall because of the weird feeling he has inside himself. Vi takes a knee next to the redhead. She grabs her bowl of food and scoops a spoonful. "Please eat." The blonde asks of the girl. Vi holds the spoon out near the girl's mouth. Minnie eyes the substance, she timidly gets a small portion off the spoon and eats it. _That's better Minnie...much better._ Vi scoops another spoonful and motions it to the girl's mouth. Minnie eats another spoonful. Vi looks to Louis who is stunned seeing Minnie for the first time calm instead of her usual struggling self. Minnie stares back to her hands swallowing the cold particles of food. Vi looks back to the girl. "You wanna talk?" Minnie remains silent staring into her hands. Vi puts her hand on the girl's shoulder which makes the redhead flinch and back away from her. Tears start to fill Vi's eyes. "Please talk to me." Her voice sad and choppy. Minnie remains silent. The blonde girl drapes her head down in disappointment, believing that she could have brung her back. But now she sees that Louis was right, maybe this would be better than letting her suffer. "I'm sorry." Minnie admits to the girl. Louis is frozen in disbelief. Vi looks up to the girl with tears threatening to break from her eyes. "I'm sorry for what I did." The redhead restates. Minnie glances at Louis' scarred face and quickly turns back to her hands. "I know that now." Vi goes to Louis' side. "We can't do this...not now." Louis keeps his eyes on the redhead and nods his head hesitantly. "I think you're right." He responds.

"Please let me out." Minnie catches the pair's attention. Louis shakes his head. "Minnie...you know we can't do that." She quickly responds. "I won't hurt anyone...I promise." Her eyes start to water. "I'm fucking tired of being tied up." She wipes her eyes on her bony shoulders. Vi goes back to her once lover's side. "How do we know you won't, you didn't really give us a warning before you attacked Clem." "I won't!" The redhead snaps. She softens her voice. "Bring her here, and you'll see...I won't hurt her. I don't hate her, not anymore." Vi shakes her head. _Can I trust her?_ Vi mulls to herself. Minnie pulls on the rope and whines. "Just please get this fucking rope off me...It fucking hurts!" Louis steps up to the girls. "I can ask Clem to come down if you want me to...She's tired, but she'll do if I tell her you asked?" Vi thinks to herself. _If this goes wrong...someone is going to die, but Minnie could be telling the truth. She has been down here for weeks, maybe she actually thought this through. _Vi bobs her head up and down. "Go ask Clem." Louis nods, he glances at the redhead and goes to his room.

Clementine is sitting on a blanket in the middle of a meadow. She is wearing her normal attire. The sun shines down on the grassy land, glistening off the individual pieces of grass. She looks around her, a basket full of fruit sit at the base of her legs. She is protected by a tree that shields her from the rays of sun. She scans her environment. The air is smooth and fills her lungs with the most pleasant sensation. She gets a hint of sweetness on her tongue as she inhales.

"Found ya!" Louis' bouncy voice ricochets around the world into Clem's ears. She stands up and looks at the voice's direction. She spots Louis pointing at a pouch of tall grass. "Come on! You're cheating!" The grass whines to the dread haired boy. AJ comes out of the the wall of grass. "Only cheaters accuse others of cheating." Louis laughs at the boy. AJ shakes his head. Louis scans all around him. "Where is she?" AJ shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know. She said she wanted to hide by herself this time." Louis starts to creep around. "Well then...I guess we have to find her together." Louis points to his left. "I take left, and you take right." AJ nods and starts to creep around.

Clem's brow furrows. _Are they looking for me?_

***feminine giggle***

Clem turns slightly left towards the unfamiliar giggle. A little girl is hiding behind a rock watching the boy's going in the complete opposite direction. Clem tilts her head trying to focus in on the figure. The little girl can't be no older than AJ. The petite girl giggles to herself again, she then turns towards Clementine. The girl stares at the Clem. Clem's mouth opens ajar confused of who this girl is. She notes the little girl's facial features. Her eyes are golden...hazel even. Her hair is dark brown and is as curly as her own. Her hair is put into a side bun halfway down to her shoulders. Her skin is a creamy caramel, with freckles kissing her plump cheeks. For some reason she looks so familiar to...

"Hey sweet pea." Clem's face widens and she looks behind her meeting her once guardian. "Lee!" Clem remembers the girl and turns behind her but she's gone, and so are Louis and AJ. Clem's brow furrows. She turns back to Lee who is also looking out into the field with a smile Clementine has never seen him show her before. He looks down to his little girl. "I've missed you." He tells her. Clem embraces his warmth. "I missed you too." She disembarks. "Who was that girl?" That indescribable smile fulfills his face. "You'll find out eventually...maybe not tomorrow...a couple of months, or years." He pauses and looks out to the last known location of the girl. Clem continues to study Lee. "But you'll know who she is one day." He looks back down to her. "Clementine!?" Clem looks all around her recognizing the voice, belonging to Louis. Lee looks up at the sky. "Clementine!?" He looks back down and makes eye contact with his little girl. "It's time to go Clementine." Clem's worrying face looks at her father figure not understanding. "Clementine!?"

Clem awakes. "Clementine!?" Louis shakes on her shoulders. In distress she leans her upper body up panting to herself. Louis flinches back. He quickly goes to her side. "Hey!" He grabs onto her shoulders looking into her eyes. "Everything ok?" She looks all around her and back to the boy. "I'm fine." She responds with sweat coming down her brow. "Nightmare?" He asks not leaving her eyes. She shakes her head. "No...I—don't know what that was." Louis raises his eyebrows. He can't think of what to say so he changes the subject. "I-uh—Vi wanted to know if you could help her with Minnie?" Still shaken up by the dream she nods her head. "Yeah-I'll—uh-I'll be there in a second, just give me a minute." He goes to the closet. "You want your pants or you just going down with what you have on?" She beams her eyes into Louis', seeing his soul for a split second and then stands up. "Let's just-um-go." He watches as she takes lead in front of him. He rubs his head. _I wish I knew what was wrong with me _he tells himself.

"I promise. I won't hurt anyone." Minnie reassures her lover. Vi scratches the back of her head. "I really want to believe that Minnie." She tells her honestly. "Are you sure you're fine? You seem pretty shook up." Louis' voice can be heard entering the dungeon. Vi looks towards the voice. _Please don't make me regret this._ Clem shakes her head. "I'm okay...I'll tell you about it later." He nods his head. They come around the corner meeting the two girls. Minnie stays calm and shows no reaction upon meeting the curly haired teen. Vi carefully notes the redheads behavior. "Hey...Minnie." Clem waves to her and timidly walks up to the girl. Minnie keeps eyeing everyone in the room. "I won't hurt you." The girl clears her throat. "I don't want to hurt anyone...not anymore." She pauses. "And I'm sorry for what I did to you and Louis...I didn't know what I was doing. Everything went black and then I woke up here...I asked AJ why I was down here and he just..." Minnie's face turns to horror and she starts to push herself away. "NO! NO! NO! NO! GET HIM AWAY PLEASE!" The redhead pulls her arms from the rope which only bruises her skin. Everyone looks at the object in the corner of the room that was making the girl freak out. AJ is standing there looking at everyone. Vi goes to Minnie's side. "Hey! Calm down!" Minnie reluctantly does as she is told, calming down. She fidgets and shakes uncontrollably. She starts to cry to herself. "Please don't leave me here with him!" Everyone looks at each other confused. "Why are you so scared of AJ?" Louis asks. Clem looks to Louis then to AJ. "NO!" The redhead screams. She then lowers her voice. "He'll hurt me! Hurt me like he always does!" Minnie gets up to Vi's ear. "Please...he'll kill me." She pleads into the blondes ear. AJ takes a step forward earning a scream of terror from the redhead.

Louis kneels beside Minnie. He grabs ahold of her shoulders. "Calm down!" She stops squirming and keeps her eyes on the boogeyman across the room, who is doing the same to her. Louis brings her face to his. "Tell us..." she starts to take her face back to the boogeyman. Louis brings her face back. "Don't worry about him...tell us why you're scared of AJ." He lets go of her waiting a response. Minnie gulps. She starts to motion her head to all the bruises on her skin. "He's been beating me, and threatening to kill me for what I did." She starts to cry again. "He said if I told anyone, he'd kill me and make it look like I escaped." She starts to bawl. AJ takes another step forward. She starts to pull herself. "PLEASE! HE'S GOING GO KILL ME!" Louis stands up and goes to the boy kneeling to his level. "Is she telling the truth?" Frozen, Clem watches in disbelief that AJ would do something like this. She didn't raise a monster. AJ doesn't give a response but keeps his eyes on the girl on the opposite side. Louis puts his hands on the boy's shoulders and makes the boy look at him. "Hey!?" Louis try's to get his attention. "I don't know why you guy's are so upset! She tried to kill both you and Clem!" Louis face scrunches. "But torturing people when they're tied up is going to far!" Louis says sternly. AJ points to his mother. "Then tell Clem that! She did it to Abel so we could find our friends! And Minnie is just as evil as he was!" He points to the girl across the room. Louis looks up to Clementine who is in distress. He shakes his head. "She did that to Abel because if she didn't we wouldn't have gotten them back...you did it just because you wanted to!" AJ snaps at the older boy. "Because I wanted to!?" He points at Louis' face scar. He then points at Clem's ankle. "I did it because she said she didn't do what she did! She doesn't deserve mercy!" AJ shakes in anger. "She thinks she can just go around and kill anyone she wants! Those types of people don't deserve to live!" Louis shakes his head. He looks up to the boy's mother. "Clem?" The girl glances at Louis. She gets on AJ's level.

AJ looks into his mother's eyes. "You said that we kill monsters!" He points at the girl across the room. "That is what she is!" Clem keeps herself calm. "Breathe." She demands of her son. "But..." She interrupts him. "Breathe." She inhales deeply and exhales making him do the same. Louis sees the same eyes of the boy who killed his best friend months ago, vengeful. Clem collects her thoughts. "I know what she did was bad...but torturing people when they're beaten is going to far...doing these things at your age is not healthy." He stays silent. "When you do things like this it scares me...you know that?" AJ cuts her off. "You know I would never hurt anyone of you." She nods her head. "But doing things like this to people make you just as evil as them." AJ bites his tongue. "Don't call me evil." He asks of her sadly.

"Promise me AJ...promise you won't do anything to her." AJ looks at Louis then to Minnie. He nods his head in defeat. "I promise I won't hurt her." Clem nods her head in relief. "Everyone deserves a second chance...even monsters." AJ bobs his head understanding. "NO! DON'T TRUST HIM!" The redhead demands. Vi hushes her. Louis reassures the frantic girl. "You can trust him...AJ doesn't break promises he makes to Clem." Still not convinced the redhead's breathing remains unsteady. Vi uses her cleaver and cuts the rope releasing the girl's wrists. "You can sleep in my room tonight...you'll be safe in there I promise." Minnie nods to herself and follows Vi out the cellar.

Louis keeps his eyes on the smaller boy, feeling uneasy seeing AJ back in this dark place, his cold and calculated half. Louis takes his shirt off. "Hey?" He asks in a low tone. He gains the attention of both Clem and her son. Louis points to his scars from his torso to his face which gifts Clem an inch through her body. "She gave me these...and I still would have never done what you did to her." He pauses. "Revenge is stupid...you only end up hurting more people in the end." Louis thinks about what he did to Clem and AJ months ago, trying to kick them out for killing his friend. He remembers how him trying to get back at them nearly costed them not only their lives, but it almost kept him from ever getting to be with Clementine. AJ drops his head confused but disappointed in himself. "I did this to protect you guys." AJ says in a low tone. Louis drapes his head. "We know...and that's okay. You're young, you're learning, and this time you where wrong but we learn from our mistakes." Clementine speaks up. AJ mulls to himself. "I didn't mean to make you guys upset." Louis looks up to the boy. "Not upset...just-a little scared if I'm being honest." He looks to Clementine who internally agrees with him. "I understand." AJ says.

**The next afternoon**

Aasim and Ruby are outside the gates walking around in the forest. Ruby hugs close to Aasim as they look around nature. "Ya know...I sometimes forget how beautiful this forest is." She states from the boy's side. _This is your chance Aasim...time to be romantic, or try to be._ Aasim glances down to the plump girl. "Well...it was probably designed after you." She looks up to him, her mouth slightly ajar. "Are you flirting with me?" She asks playfully, because he usually doesn't. His face gets hot and turns a bright pink. "You are!" She chuckles. She wraps her arm around his. They continue their way into the colorful forest.

"Where exactly are we goin?" Ruby asks. Aasim raises his brow. "I have a surprise waiting for you." He nudges on her shoulder. Her eyebrows curl. "A surprise for me?" She asks unsure if she heard him right. He nods his head and glances down to her. "I think you'll like it." She follows up. "Where is this surprise?" He motions his head forward. "At the shack...I spent all morning trying to get it together." _What did he get for me?_ She shoots her eyes to him and then back into the forest.

James lays flat of his back on top of a picnic table relaxing for the first time in years. He studies the sparse clouds above him, thinking about making this place his new home. A mixture of snotting and breathing breaks him out of his concentration. He looks to his side and sees a dog sitting with it's head tilt sideways studying the boy. He becomes terrified but keeps his cool, uncertain of how the dog will react. "Hey there." He waves at the dog. Rosie whines and gets closer to the boy lightly scratching on the boy's pants. He moves his hand to the dogs head and pets it, hoping it won't bite his arm off. "That's—a-um-good whatever you are." Rosie falls over on her side inviting him to scratch her tummy. James smiles. "Oh...I know what you want." He gets on the ground and scratches the dogs stomach making Rosie writhe in joy. He giggles.

Aasim and Ruby enter the old storage shack. He holds the door open for the girl. "At least I choose someone with some manners." She says as she walks past the boy. He smiles to himself. He jogs over to the bed and grabs hold of the old torn blanket. She could have sworn that it moved by itself. Aasim's face gets big. "Ta Da!" He rips the blanket off revealing a baby bunny tied up to a metal frame sitting on the bed. Ruby gasps. "A bunny!" She jogs over and starts to play with it. "It's yours...I made sure to find a baby." "Aasim!" She gets up and hugs the boy's neck nearly falling over him. "Oh god Ruby! I think you're squeezing the life out of me!" She lets go of his neck and wraps around his torso. He wraps his arms around her. "Thank you." She tells him from his chest. A smirk grows on his lips. She lets go of him and tends to the bunny. He goes to her side and rubs his thumb over the little guy's head. "What are you naming him?" He asks her. She glances between the two of them. "Anny." She pecks a kiss on the boy's cheek. He laughs nervously and rubs the back of his neck.

AJ stealthily puts his shoes on, occasionally glancing up at his sleeping mother and Louis. _Time for patrol...maybe—maybe Louis will want to play today—if he's not too mad at me._ The little boy frowns to himself. Clem smacks her lips together and repositions herself, grinding her hips against Louis' groin. A gust of air escapes her nose as she digs her head into the pillow. She remains in her dreams. A sigh of relief escapes the boy's mouth, thankful he didn't wake her.

"Minnie...please just lay down." Violet yawns. "We've been up all night, he's not going to hurt you." Minnie is curled up in the corner holding to her knees staring at the wooden structure. _No! No! No! He'll come for me...I know it. _Vi drags her feet and plops down beside the girl. "He's waiting for me to sleep...I know it." She snaps, her body shaking in fear. Vi shakes her head. "He won't break his promise...He'd never do anything that would intentionally make Clem upset." She pauses and tilts her head back on the wall, her eyes threatening to take her into the void of sleep. "Why do you think he kept it a secret from her for so long?" Vi passes out with her head toppling over onto Minnie's shoulder. The redhead allows the blonde to stay on her skin, as she continues to eye the door, still not convinced that the boogeyman will keep his word.

"Aren't you just a cutie pie." Ruby baby talks her new little companion. She gently scratches on the little guy's head. A half smile penetrates Aasim's lips as they continue their journey back to the school. "What are we suppose to feed him?" Ruby asks. Aasim shrugs his shoulders. "I-uh-never thought about that." He immediate adds. "Do we have any carrot seeds in the greenhouse?" Ruby shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know...Clem and I are still going through all the boxes." Aasim's face brightens with eureka. "I'd say there is some food for this little guy in one of those crates we brought back from the raiders." Ruby pets the bunny's fur. "I'll take a look when we get back." She says.

Louis' eyes lazily open. He is welcomed with the scent of Clementine's hair rubbing his nose. _And I still feel like shit._ He takes his arm out from underneath her armpit and rubs his eyes. He then clenches his teeth and his cheeks turn pink. _Goddamnit Clem._ He whines to himself. She has her ass pressed against his groin and it kind of gave him a serious case of morning wood. _How does she not feel that...or does she!? _He carefully pushes his body away from hers hoping she won't wake up and witness his embarrassment. _What the fuck am I suppose to do when she does that...It's not like I can control it._ He escapes her warmth. He lays flat on his back. _Think of borning stuff...like-um-carrying boxes. _He twists his hips. _Okay-borning things don't help...maybe moving around will._ Louis moves himself below the girl's hips and crawls over her legs. The bed creeks, he stops and studies the girl. _If she wakes up and sees me like this. _She smacks her lips and wiggles her hips. _That's it—I'm fucked._ She moans snuggling up into the blanket, a gust of air blows out her nose and she relaxes. Louis sighs in relief. _Thank you God._ He escapes the bed landing on the floor. _This is so uncomfortable._ He pulls on his shorts and underwear that is suctioned to his groin. _Her beauty is a gift and a curse...and right now it's the latter_. Louis grunts to himself. _Go away!_ Louis starts to alternate between quietly squatting and doing push-ups.

He stands his ground with sweat running down his brow. _Problem solved. _Louis puffs to himself. He takes his shorts off tossing them into the closet. He notices a dark spot in his underwear, he rubs his thumb over it getting a weird silky texture printed onto his thumb. He huffs and puffs. _And I ruined my favorite pair of underwear. Awesome! _He takes the pair off covering them up in some of his old clothes, stuffing it into the corner of the closet. He collects a new pair and covers himself. As Louis puts his jeans on, that strange feeling that has been haunting him for the last couple of days hits him in a violent wave. _Damn...I-don't feel—so great. _As he buttons his pants he starts to trip over himself, finding it hard to stand. His eyes twitch and he slams on the ground, his body regurgitating.

Clem's eyes bolt open, reaching for her knife that lay on the drawer. Before she can grab it she spots the young man spazzing out on the floorboard. "Lou!" She jumps out the bed to his side. She plops onto the floor and pulls his torso onto her lap. "It's okay...you're fine." His eyes spaz in every conceivable direction, his body shakes violently. She drags him to the side of the drawer, allowing herself to rest her back on the structure. She supports his upper half on her chest, allowing his head to rest in her cradled arms. "You'll be fine...I promise." She starts to rub his chest with her palm. His breathing becomes a wheeze and at times it seems he forgets to breathe, going terrifying long minutes not taking in a single packet of air. He locks eyes with her giving her chills. His body starts to relax. She continues to rub on his chest staring into his eyes. "You're okay." She whispers to his body.

His body stops trembling but his eyes are still paralyzed on hers. "Talk to me Lou." His chest expands and deflates. He goes through another cycle refusing to take in oxygen. She starts to worry. "Come on Lou...breathe." She asks of the boy. His body refuses her demand. His eyes start to become glassy. She starts to panic. Clem frantically pats on his chest. "Lou!?" He remains silent. Her eyes begin to water. "Don't you fucking do this to me." She shakes his torso. "Louis!?" He inhales deeply. His eyes wander around the room. His breathing is restored to its normal routine. Clementine sniffs her runny nose.

He scans his environment. Louis buries his hands into his face. He rubs his eyes, grunting in discomfort. Clem sighs in relief. He puts his hands to his side and reconnects his eyes with her. He tries to sit himself up. "Whats wro—owe!" He says in pain. He rests on his knees clenching to his head. Clem sniffs her nose trying to compose herself. "Holy shit...my head hurts!" He growls. She stands up and cradles his arm helping him up. "You okay? You look like you've been crying." He asks as his head throbs against his skull. She guides him to the bed. "You kind of scared me." She tells him honestly. He takes a seat digging his face into his palms. "What? I-uh-when did I scare you?" "SHIT!" He angrily curses. He rubs his forehead. She takes a seat beside him. "That was the worst seizure I've seen you have." She tells him honestly. He nods his head. "I'd say...my head hurts like hell." She scans his body. "I'm not playing Lou. You stopped breathing." He remains silent hunched over holding his head. She sniffs her nose. "I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me...and even if something does happen you don't need me, and you know that." Her teeth clench. "Look at me." She growls. Terrified he grants her demand. Her eyes look like golden embers set ablaze. He gulps. "Stop talking like that!" He nods and tends to his head. _Damn she's so scary sometimes...it's kinda hot though._

"Hey AJ?" Willy calls from below. AJ snaps out of his daydreaming and peers over the ledge. "You good up there? Or do you want me to take your shift?" Willy asks. AJ shakes his head. "I got watch." Willy nods. "Just holler if you want to switch." The boy departs.

AJ retreats back scanning the environment. _Not that many monsters today...they're probably getting dumber._ The little one chuckles to himself. "Dummies." He whispers to himself. "AJ?" AJ's face jumps to the familiar raspy voice of the boy who he just fought a couple of nights ago. He tries to ignore the scarred face boy. _I promised Clem I wouldn't fight with him anymore._ "AJ?" AJ shakes his head and reluctantly goes to the other side of the watch tower looking down on the other boy. "What?" AJ says sharply. Tenn is unable to make eye contact with the boy. "I-uh-I'm...I..." AJ begins to become annoyed. "Spit it out!" Tenn's face retracts. "I'm sorry for what I said about Clementine...I was just hoping that we could maybe—be friends again?" Tenn's insecure body glances up to the other boy. Before AJ can respond he hears voices coming from the forest. He swiftly shifts his attention to the vast wilderness. "AJ?" Tenn is confused. "Shh!" AJ shushes the older boy.

"Aasim he's pooping on me!" Ruby gags. Aasim laughs hysterically. Ruby holds her little companion out trying to stop him from dumping his waste on her. "Aasim he won't stop!" Droplets of rabbit shit fall everywhere. Aasim's legs give out and he falls to one knee holding to his gut. "Stop laughing and help me!" She begs.

AJ brings his guard down seeing Ruby in paranoia. He laughs watching her struggle with the critter.

"Lou please go back to the dorm and rest." Clementine and Louis are at the double doors leading to the courtyard. She grabs hold of his hands making him stop. "Seriously I'm fine." He puffs. "You my dear worry to much for ol' Louis." He chuckles and gives her a toothy smile. She becomes annoyed with him. He opens the doors leading her outside. "Hey!?" She growls pulling on his shirt. "Take this seriously!" Her teeth clench. He backs away from her. "Clem...calm down." She cuts him off. "If you saw what I saw you would be the same way!" She presses her body onto his, lazering into his pupils. She notices the fear in his eyes so she softens up. Her shoulders slouch, she brings her eyes to his chest. "I just—I don't know what to do." She admits to him. She reconnects to his brown iris'. "It's scary Lou...They just happen—randomly." She gulps. "I'm scared that it's going to kill you and I can't stop it." She dangles her head down and rubs her fingers on her forehead. Louis wraps his arms around the girl's figure, she buries her head into his chest. "Everything will be fine...I wish I could just see you smile for once today." He gets an idea and lets go of her. "When I get back I'll find you...I have a surprise waiting for you." She shakes her head. "I don't know if I'm in the mood for anymore surprises today." She tells him honestly. She witnesses a smile form on his face. "I think you'll like this one." He pecks a kiss on her forehead. "I'm going out with AJ...I want to teach him how to bait and catch." He starts towards all the commotion near the gate. She hold his arm back. "Please...be careful...both of you." He bores into her eyes. "We will...you know I wouldn't let anything bad happen to him." She releases him. "Love ya Clemmy! See you in a little bit!" He winks at her. She studies him as he paces away from her. Her face downcast "Love you." She whispers to the wind.

"Someone get him!" Ruby pleads. Aasim musters up enough composure to take Anny out of her possession. "Here I got him." She holds her arms out scared to smear the critter's waste on her clothes. She glares at AJ and Tenn who are laughing at her. "If it's so funny then I don't think you guys would mind a hug." She starts chasing them around. "Ruby! We'll stop!" AJ begs running around a picnic table with Tenn on his tail. Louis gets in front of the redhead. "What's gotten into you today?" He asks then spotting the brown stains on her shirt. "Is that shit?" He points at the stains. Ruby pouts. "I'm going to take a shower." She awkwardly wobbles away with Aasim trailing behind her.

"Louis!" AJ sprouts to the boy then becomes shy worried that the older boy is still upset with him. "Hey little dude!" Louis waves to him. His brow furrows seeing Tenn trail behind his afro. A smile penetrates his lips. "You two make up?" He points between them. Tenn rubs his arm and AJ doesn't respond. _Maybe I can help them hit it off again._ Louis' smile never leaves his face. He snaps his fingers. "I'll take that as a yes!" He quickly adds. "I was going out to check our traps...you guys want to come along?" AJ takes no time to answer. "I want to!" Tenn stays silent reverting his eyes from Louis. "Tenn?" Louis prays that he'll accept the invitation. "Yeah." The raspy voice answers. "Well then." Louis tugs on his coat. "The dream team is off to catch some food." They walk towards the gate. "There you are ol' girl." Louis picks up Chairles which was hiding under some brush. He kisses the chair leg. "I missed ya." AJ chuckles. "Why did you kiss a chair leg?" Louis caresses the makeshift weapon. "Because me and her have been through a lot together." "But it's just a chair leg." AJ replies. Louis wags his finger. "Not just any chair leg...she has a name thank you very much." The boy's continue out into the wilderness.

***knock* *knock***

Minnie jumps. _He's here! He's here! _Her body starts to tremble. Vi's head falls off her shoulder causing her to wake up. "Vi! It's Clementine! I wanted to come check up on you guys!" The muffled voice of Clementine hits both the girl's ears. Minnie becomes less tense but her heart pounds with fury. Vi's pulse hastens knowing that it was Clementine outside her door. "Yeah! I'm coming Clem!" The blonde hops off the floor and pats herself down. She realigns her clothes and paces to the door. Minnie peers her head outward looking at the crack of the wooden structure. Vi opens the door. "Hey—Vi..." Clem notices the girl's new apparel. "New clothes?" Vi's face starts to feel hot. "Yeah-I-uh-thought I could spice it up a little." The blonde responds. Clem has never seen the girl in bright clothing before but she likes it a lot more than her old cold colors. "You should wear bright colors more often...you look pretty in them." Clem tells her. Vi's face catches on fire. _She just called me pretty!_ "I-uh-thanks." She turns away from the curly haired girl trying to cover up her bright pink face. Clem follows her inside. Minnie glances up to her and resumes to her lonesome. "Everything good?" Clem asks. Vi leans on the metal frame of the bunk bed keeping her head down. _Clementine is so freaking hot! _"I'm pretty tired to be honest." She motions her head to Minnie. "I don't think Minnie has slept yet." Clem looks down at the redhead. "Why's that?" Vi glances up to the brown haired girl. "She's scared that AJ is going to hurt her." She says honestly. Before Clem can respond Vi continues. "Where's AJ and Louis?" She asks with her arms in a b-boy stance. Clem frowns. "Lou is teaching AJ how to bait and catch." Vi notices the girl's awkward behavior. "Everything okay?" Clem scratches the back of her head. "I don't know." Vi's head tilts. "What do you mean?" Clementine puts her arm to her chest and starts to rub on it. "I'm scared that something bad is going to happen to Lou." Vi's brow furrows and she stops leaning on the metal frame. "Why would you think that?" Minnie stays attentive to the brown haired girl standing above her. "You remember when I told you about him getting seizures?" The blonde nods her head. "Yeah." Clem gulps. "Well...they haven't been all too serious up until this morning." Vi takes a seat on the bed but keeps all attention to Clem. "I guess he got up before me—I woke up to a slamming sound and I saw him on the ground shaking and twitching." Clem moves her eyes to the floorboard visualizing the events. "I-uh-went to help, but—this was bad and I mean bad. It got to where he wouldn't breathe, there-I—I couldn't do anything." She stops herself before getting to emotional. Vi remains silent. "If it gets any worse...I'm scared it's going to kill..." Clem bites her tongue and storms out of the room. "Clem!?" Vi follows the girl.

"Alright you guys had your fun...now can you please be so generous and cut me down." Louis is upside down hanging from his own snare trap. AJ and Tenn are rolling on the ground laughing at the older boy. Out of his laughter AJ says. "I wish Clem was here!" Louis looks down seeing his leg wrapped in the rope. "Oh I'm sure she would be having as much fun as you guys are."

"I think I'm starting to really like you." Aasim runs his hands through the bunny's fur. "And don't worry, mommy will still love you—even though you shitted on her." Ruby walks out of the showers pressing the towel onto her hair. Aasim goes to her. "Everything good now?" She nods her head. "Yeah." The bunny squeaks. "I think he said he's sorry." Aasim says. Ruby chuckles. "Oh I'm sure he is."

"Fucking piece of shit!" Willy growls to himself. He tosses the broken igniter deep into the woods. He goes back to his duffel bag. "mmh..." He scans the arsenal on explosives. "They're useless now." He scratches his head. "I didn't even get to test them." His teeth clench with rage. "Fucking bullshit!" He kicks the side of the old shack.

**Two hours later**

"I have a project we can start...if you want to." Tenn's says as they enter the gates to the School. AJ nods his head. "You want to start now?" AJ asks. Tenn's face jumps. "So you're not mad at me anymore?" He asks as he holds his hands close together. "Well I'm still mad, but Clem said everyone gets a second chance."

"Hey AJ?" Louis interrupts their conversation. The dread haired boy gets on the little one's level. "I'm going to find Clem. You want to come or do you two have something planned?" AJ motions his head to his burnt face friend. "Tenn said he has a project we can start, so I'm going with him." Louis smiles. _Not bad Louis...You're starting to get ahold of this dad thing._ "Alrighty." Louis stands up. "You two have fun." As he departs AJ tells him. "Tell Clem I love her." Louis taps on the side of his head. "Stored in the ol' membrane." AJ and Tenn's face scrunch. "What does that mean?" AJ asks. Louis stops strolling. "It means I'll tell her." Louis says. "Then why didn't you just say that?" AJ asks. "I-uh..." Louis huffs and puffs. "I thought it sounded cooler." Tenn and AJ look at each other. "I'll stick to your version from now on." Louis says with a smile.

"Simmy!" Louis yells with his arms open wide. Aasim rolls his eyes and turns to the boy. "Stop calling me that." Ruby is holding onto her companion. "I think it sounds cute." She defends Louis. "Exactly! See Simmy, even Ruby thinks it suits you well." Aasim puffs. "Anyway, have you guys seen Clementine?" They both shake their heads. "No. I haven't seen her today." Aasim says. "Me neither." The redhead says. Louis' brow curls. "I'd say Vi would know or maybe James." Ruby says. Louis nods his head. "mmh...alrighty then. See you guys."

***knock* *knock***

"Vi you in there?" He hears small footsteps scurry to the door. "Hey Vi..." She interrupts him. "You need to find Clem." She says hastily. Worry begins to consume Louis' soul. "Is something wrong?" The blonde swivels between Minnie and the boy. "We where talking and she got upset...she stormed out of here." "What she get upset about?" Minnie eyes the door. "She was talking about you and she choked up and walked out." Louis looks down the hallway. "When did she leave?" "I don't know...an hour or two ago." Vi says. "I was going to go after her but Minnie started to freak out." She pauses. "She's not in a good place Louis." The scarred cheek boy nods his head. He starts down the hallway. "I'll come check up on you guys later today."

"I don't know why you like following me so much." James says to Rosie. He pets her on the head. "James!" Louis jogs up to him. _Man he's hot _James thinks to himself. "Have you seen Clementine?" He points inside the admin building. "I was walking around in the admin building and I saw her climbing over some debris in one of the hallways. _The graves _Louis thinks to himself. "She didn't seem so happy...I asked her what was wrong but she said she just wanted to be alone." Louis pats the man on the shoulder. "Thanks James." He starts to jog back into the admin building. James watches the boy depart. _Clem is one lucky girl._ _Damn he's thic._ (Yo James really be wildin out here)

**Ten minutes later**

Louis crouches through the small hole. He trips over himself nearly rolling his ankle. "Goddamn stupid fucking feet. Stupid fucking body always tripping over myself like I'm a fucking infant." He growls to himself. He makes it through the hole and comes to the private graveyard. He scans the area but there is no sign of the curly haired teen. He turns the corner to the left and meets the girl who is sitting on her knees staring at her once protectors grave. "You okay Clem?" He walks up from behind her. She sniffs her nose and wipes her eyes with her sleeve. "Yeah...I just wanted some time alone—to think." He takes a seat beside her. He eyes between her and the grave marked Lee. "You wanna talk about what you're thinking?" He's able to hear the air escape her nose in the silence. "You don't understand how much I've lost Lou." Louis stays attentive to her face. She continues to stare off at the three letters in front of her. "Everyone I've ever met or gotten close too—is dead—every last person." She pauses. "Everyone but you and AJ." She twirls her thumbs. "I've seen them torn apart by walkers...limb from limb...drown in a frozen river...shot by the living...beaten to death...thrown out a car window—that I crashed...and even shot one because I got him bit." She bites her tongue. She wipes her eyes and looks at the boy. "I know you think that everything will be okay, but I can't lose anyone else. It always ends the same way." Tears fill her eyes. "Do you hear me? I can't—I'm tired of feeling like this. They would all have been fine if they just never met me." Louis points to the grave in front of him. "Do you think Lee would believe that? Because from what I heard you where the greatest thing that happened to him." He quickly adds on. "Or what about AJ? I've never seen a kid so attached so someone in my entire life. He looks up to you as the person he wants to be when he's older. AJ isn't AJ without you, you're his second half." He points to himself. "And what about me and the rest of the kids at this school? You saved us, taught us how to protect our home, you even make a big dummy like me feel special." Louis points to the scar on his cheek and raises his shirt to remind her of the scars on his body. "Every single one of these show how much you mean to me." He stands up holding his hand out to the girl. "Come on, your surprise is still waiting for you." She looks up to him. "And I would like to see you smile for once today."

The couple make their way to the main entrance into the school. "Where are we going?" Clementine asks. Louis motions her to continue with him. "It's in the piano room." She continues beside him. "Could you at least give me a hint." He shakes his head. "It wouldn't be much I a surprise if you knew something about it." He says. "Fair enough." She states.

He opens up the doors to the music room. Beside the piano is a blanket covering up a waist sized object. Louis trips on his feet but recovers. "Behold!" He yanks the cover off revealing a chair with a pair of scissors and a broken mirror. The girl's brow furrows. "What's this?" She walks towards the three objects. He takes the scissors and the mirror out of the seat and pats on the material. "Barber Louis is giving you a haircut." He states with a smile covering from ear to ear. The brown haired girl smiles to herself. "Ah-ha! There's that smile I've been waiting to see." She takes a seat on the worn out cushion. "Where did you find the scissors and mirror?" He hands her the broken glassy object. "Stumbled over it while I was in Ruby's office. I got this ready yesterday but I wasn't sure when I was going to ask you." Louis takes the scissors and snips them in the air. "What would my client like to have on this fine evening?" She rummages through her hair. "Just a trim would be nice." She takes her hair clippings out and her hair drapes past her shoulders. He takes hold of her hair. "I won't mess up." He states. She twists her head to look at him. "And you remember what's going to happen if you do?" Louis grabs hold of a single dreadlock. "Say goodbye to the dreads." She says. She uses her index and middle finger to imitate scissors snipping. He laughs sheepishly. "We won't have to worry about that Clemmy, because I'm the best barber around." He starts to cut her hair. "That's only because you're the only 'barber' around." As she finishes he cuts a chunk of her hair. "I don't think so Clem. I mean I have people come from all over the states for my haircuts." He snips more of her hair off. "This is probably you're first time cutting someone's hair, so I highly doubt that." She says. He moves to her right side. "Well I mean you traveled all the way from Georgia for this masterpiece." She moves her eyes to look at him. She can see the strain in his eyes trying his best to concentrate on his work. "You really don't know what you're doing do you?" He shakes his head and snips another chunk of her hair off. "No miss Clementine, I do not." He moves to her left side. "But I think it is coming along just...fine." He says as he snips another chunk of her hair. "Thank you for doing this...it really does mean a lot Lou." He begins his finishing touches. "If it makes you happy then that's my duty." He says. "I know how much you love my hair and I'm sorry about that." He continues his finishing touches. "I love your smile more than your hair. So if this makes you smile it's worth it." She smiles to herself.

Louis backs away. "There...I think it's finished." She takes the mirror up and examines her new hair. Her face jumps. "Not bad Lou." She runs her free hand through the curly strands. "Really!?" She giggles. "Yeah! I mean it's not perfect but way better than Javi ever did." His face scrunches. "Javi?" She quickly adds. "He was a man who helped me find AJ back in Richmond." Louis nods. "Seems like a good man." He nods. "He was, but man was he terrible at cutting hair." She puts the mirror down and hugs the boy's neck. "I don't know how I can repay you." He hugs her back. "Well there is one thing..." She brings her head back to look him in his eyes. "Don't you ruin this moment." She says devilishly. He chuckles. "What do you think I'm going to ask?" She keeps her arms wrapped around his neck. "I don't know Lou...but you can have a really dirty mind sometimes." He giggles. "We'll miss Clementine this time you are wrong." He shows her a hairbow. "Could you put my dreads into a bun? They keep getting on my eyes." She releases his neck. "Yeah." He takes a seat on the floor, she takes a seat on the chair.

She takes his dreads and brings them back. "And fyi Clementine I don't have a dirty mind." She shrugs her shoulders. "Oh I'm sure you don't." He nods his head. "Yeah...well—most of the time I don't. And it's not my fault that you make me think dirty things." She chuckles.

"You know you never told me about that dream you had yesterday." He tells her. The image of the little brown skin girl props back into her head. She falls silent thinking about the vivid details of the little girl. "Clem?" Louis asks. His voice brought to back to reality. "Uh-What did Grace look like?" She asks. Louis frowns to himself but Clem can't see it. "She had straight blonde hair, she was white, and she was very skinny." He tilts his head back to look at the girl. "Why?" She locks onto his eyes. "I-uh-um...I don't know how to explain it." She states. "Well then just tell me what happened in the dream...like who was in it?" She starts to bun his hair. "Well you and AJ where in it." His face jumps. "So Clementine dreams about me?" He says with a smirk on his face. She rolls her eyes. "Yes you where in it Lou." He continues to smile to himself. "You and AJ where playing hide and seek I guess and you found AJ...then you and AJ started to look for someone else but it wasn't me." She pauses. "There was a little girl behind a rock hiding from you guys." Louis ponders to himself. "What did she look like?" "Her skin was like a shiny brown, she had curly dark brown hair—that was put into a bun." She pauses. "Her eyes were golden—maybe hazel would be a better fit. And she had freckles on her face." Clementine states. Louis visualizes this mysterious girl. He puffs and chuckles to himself. "She sounds just like you, except for the freckles of course. I don't know where those came from." He turns to the girl who is studying his freckles with her brow furrowed. "Yeah—I don't know either."

**Alright ladies and Gents. Ya boi has taken on a new challenge. I just went on my first date yesterday and I had no idea what I was doing, so that was awesome. I didn't think I did all too bad until she surprised me by wanting to come back to my house, so that shit was awkward. Like I just started talking to this girl 2 days ago so it's pretty difficult to make conversation. Can ya'll help a brother out. Because she's hot af and I really don't want to fuck this up.**

**P.S. are there any characters that you guys want more development with?**


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